The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Skill-wise, we were in it”
by Than Acuff
The ride has begun. Two steps forward, one step back.
The Crested Butte High School Titans girls soccer team tasted the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat over the course of the past week and palyers are learning the tricks of the trade in their inaugural season.
The Titans headed to Montrose on Friday, March 11 for games against the Montrose JV and C teams and came home with a 2-0 win over the C team and a 0-0 tie against the JV, with Tess Fenerty scoring both goals.
The opening matches had the team fired up for practices all week as they prepared for games against Cortez and Bayfield on Friday and Saturday, March 18-19.
“The morale was pretty high and the kids were fired up,” says coach Julia Kidd.
They headed to Cortez on Friday for their first look at what the league is all about. While the Titans must spend this season playing as a JV team, they are squaring off against varsity teams from the league in a “non-league” format.
Cortez is known in the league as one of the more physical teams and the Titans got a first-hand experience of their play, losing 2-0.
“They’re learning the physicality of the game and it was a good thing for the girls to see,” says Kidd. “Skill-wise, we were in it.”
Aside from the physicality, the Titans also struggled to take what they’ve been practicing in the gym and apply it onto the bigger field.
“We had a hard time getting the offense to materialize,” explains Kidd. “Getting our midfielders to connect both ends of the field. Things that are hard to practice when you don’t have a field.”
The Titans remained in the southwest corner of the state that night to face the Bayfield Wolverines on Saturday, March 19. Bayfield is one of the tougher teams in the league and the Titans were forced to play without their starting goalkeeper. The difference in skill and an inexperienced goalie added to the overall inexperience of the Titans team, as they fell to Bayfield 4-0.
“There was definitely some skill on Bayfield,” says Kidd.
Kidd also points out that while wins are great, that’s far from the primary focus of the program in its first year of existence.
“I’ve got 24 girls and I’m really trying to get them all in,” says Kidd. “Getting them all to play together is the goal right now.”
While the back-to-back losses did sting, Kidd reminded her team that things are far better than they appear.
“Seeing the competition was helpful and we’re not far off,” says Kidd. “We do have some serious work to do still.”
The team got a boost in morale on Monday following the weekend when they managed to get their first practice outside in Crested Butte South, since Dom Eymere plowed the field earlier this spring to help facilitate the melting process.
They have this week off from games and then hope to take on Salida on Friday, April 1. Depending on the weather and field conditions, they may be hosting the game in Gunnison.
“We’re just figuring out a way to try to make things happen,” says Kidd.
