The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Record drops to 0-4
by Than Acuff
Every spring is rough for the Crested Butte Titans high school soccer team, but this one has been especially troubling as the team was unable to score a single goal and lost two more games this past weekend. The team now sits at the bottom of the standings with a record of 0-4.
Not that it wasn’t expected, as the team has managed just two workouts a week indoors, while the other teams in their league have been on grass for the past month, at least, and have been practicing four, sometimes five times a week.
So losing is no surprise, especially against some of the talented club programs from the Western Slope. Still, the past weekend was tough as the Titans lined up for two very winnable games, only to come away with two shutout losses.
Adding insult to injury, the team lost goalie Abram Nute to injury at halftime of their first game against the Montrose B team. But that was the least of their worries as the team continues to struggle on offense, accounting for a meager eight shots over the course of the two games.
The Titans looked relatively solid through the first 15 minutes of their opening match against Montrose and were able to string together a number of passes in an effort to create a cohesive offense, but they stalled once entering the attacking third.
Thomas Taaca, Henry Sunter and Nate Hoskin proved solid on defense once again but with continued pressure and Montrose flooding the attack from the midfield, the back line eventually succumbed and Montrose took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Remy Zanatto stepped in net in the second half to fill in for Nute’s injury and did an admirable job, giving up only one goal. But with the Titans’ offense sputtering, the chance at a comeback proved fruitless and the Titans fell 2-0.
Crested Butte lined up two hours later to face a depleted Aspen team. Unfortunately, the Titans slept through the opening 20 minutes of the game as passes missed their marks in all areas of the game and they fell behind 2-0.
Midfielders Patrick Seifert, Oliver Houseman and Michael Hensley started to click, finding open space with switches to the weak side attack but strikers Alden Watkins and Justin Smith were left unsupported as they tried to attack the Aspen net.
Aspen scored a third goal before halftime to take a 3-0 lead and after a line-up adjustment, the Titans opened the second half in control of the game.
The shift offered up the Titans several scoring opportunities as Jordi Nichols and Smith found seams in the Aspen defense, but shots flew wide of the net and Aspen packed in on defense and managed to hold off the initial assault to keep their lead and finish the Titans off 3-0.
The Crested Butte team heads to Gunnison on Friday, May 1 to take on the Gunnison powerhouse team that is now in the running for the top spot in the league. The game is at Jorgenson Park with kick-off at 6 p.m. The team then heads to Delta on Saturday for their final regular season game before heading to the post-season tournament on Saturday, May 9.
