Titans’ soccer looks to close regular season with win

Final game of league play Friday at Rainbow

Two down, one more to go. The Crested Butte Titans are in a heated race for the league title with rival Telluride, with one game left in the regular season. Both teams have one loss but if the Titans can win their final game of the regular season, they should secure the Southwest League title.
But it’s not going to be easy.
For starters, they face the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers on Friday, October 17. The Titans edged out a 3-2 overtime win over Montezuma-Cortez earlier this year and there’s no question the Panthers will be motivated to exact revenge and therefore spoil the Titans’ chance at a title.
Second, it’s October break at the community school and the team is missing six key varsity players.
The good news is, the Titans are playing at home and the team has enough depth to fill some gaps in the line up.
“It’s a little hectic because of the October break and some injuries,” says coach Drew Canale. “But we got our core seniors to lead. Plus, some of the younger players are stepping up and filling roles and doing it well.”
This past week, the Titans took down two more league opponents, Ridgway and Alamosa, to maintain their slight advantage over Telluride and keep a tenuous hold on first place in the overall standings.
The first time Crested Butte faced the Ridgway Demons, it took until overtime to pull off a 3-2 win. This time around, the game went a little more smoothly as the Titans took care of business in regulation time on Thursday, October 9.
The Demons are young, but talented, and they brought their A-game to Rainbow Field against the Titans. Fortunately, so did the Titans as they managed to dictate the pace and maintain possession for most of the first half.
Crested Butte opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Kaleb Schultz settled a pass at the top of the penalty box, took a touch and blasted the ball through traffic and into the back of the net.
Ten minutes later Crested Butte put together a series of passes that resulted in one of the nicest team goals of the season. It started from the back as Thomas Taaca switched the direction of the attack to Noah Dumas. Dumas found Justin Smith open on the flank with a quick two-touch pass and Smith threaded the ball to Schultz up top. Schultz took one touch to flick a pass through the Demon defense to Sam Reaman and Reaman drove the ball off the back corner of the net to put the Titans on top 2-0 at halftime.
“The Titans were playing good soccer,” says Canale.
The Titans continued their effort in the second half and took a 3-0 lead when Jorge Rodriguez ran on to a pass over the top and drilled his shot just inside the far post.
The Demons never give up and their efforts paid off midway through the second half when they were awarded a penalty kick and scored.
The goal rattled the Titans for the next five minutes and keeper Josh Pruett came up with a big save before the Titans regained their composure to finish the game, back in control, for the 3-1 win.
“The Ridgway goal was a little bit of a scare because they stole the momentum after that, but we got it back,” says Canale. “I thought both teams played good soccer. We played a complete game and earned the win.”
Friday afternoon, the Titans coaching staff got some disturbing news from their next opponent, Alamosa. It turned out the Alamosa team was in flux with numbers depleted and might not be able to field a full squad. When they showed up for the game on Saturday, October 11, Crested Butte’s fears were realized as only nine Alamosa players stepped off the bus.
As a result, the game’s energy was subdued to say the least and the Titans reverted to working on their passing and possession rather than an all-out attack. The Titans took a 2-0 lead in the first half on goals from Merlin Mapes and Reaman, with Reaman and Schultz providing the assists.
The Titans stepped up the pressure in the second half as Sebastian Infante, Smith and Reaman all scored in the first 15 minutes. Up 5-0, the Titans started pulling players off the field but added three more as Izzac Nixon recorded a hat trick and Smith added one more. Alamosa eventually scored in the final 10 minutes, converting on a set play.
The Titans are now 10-1 in league play and will close the regular season this Friday, October 17 when they host Montezuma-Cortez at Rainbow Field at 4 p.m.
“They have a strong midfield but we hope to use the width and use our outside midfielders and work the flanks,” says Canale. “We’re looking to get the team peaking in preparation for state.”