The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Take down Ridgway and Salida in final week
by Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans girls soccer team closed out their inaugural season with two more wins last week, bringing a fitting close to their breakout year. The team headed to Ridgway on Tuesday, May 3 and returned with a 2-0 win and then finished the season with a 5-0 win over Salida on Thursday, May 5.
The path toward creating a girls high school soccer team started as long as 10 years ago with follow-up discussions and meetings every couple of years. But the numbers grew and the creation of local soccer club West Elk Soccer Association helped further fuel the girls soccer fire, and it became obvious that this was the year to put everything in place.
Crested Butte athletics director Julia Kidd returned to the coaching fray to take on the head coaching job back in February, joined by Alexis Charles and high school boys players Nate Hoskin, Cam Curtiss and Patrick Seifert as assistants.
But, you can’t have a program without players and when Kidd started preseason workouts, the number of players surprised her. Kidd expected around 14 to 15 players but had 24 signed up by the close of the opening week of workouts.
They opened the year with a win and a tie against the Montrose C and JV teams and proceeded to gain momentum over the course of the season, racking up wins as their game progressed from success based on athleticism into a potent mix of talent and athleticism.
“Hands down, the season exceeded my expectations,” says Kidd. “They definitely progressed over the season.”
That progression was obvious in their final two matches as possession and team play was light years ahead of how things looked the opening weeks of the season.
The Titans rolled to a 2-0 win over Ridgway on goals from Tess Fenerty and Rachel Potoker and then lined up against Salida for their final match of the season. Salida is known for having a strong boys program and Kidd expected the same from the girls team.
What she found was a somewhat soft opponent in Salida as Crested Butte took immediate control of the game. After a couple of near misses, the Titans broke the seal on the Salida net 26 minutes into the game on a set play. Ryan Carroll lined up 40 yards out to hit a direct kick, dropping the ball inside the 18-yard box and Sierra D’Aquila took the ball off the first bounce to tap it over the head of the Salida keeper for a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, Fenerty chipped her shot over the Salida goalie and the Titans carried a 2-0 lead into halftime.
“They were doing everything we’d practiced and were executing it with more ease,” says Kidd. “I did feel it was a little sloppy but we were able to get away with that.”
The Titans stepped up the pace in the second half, scoring three more goals as Annabelle Faivre, Potoker and Sarah Johnson all found the back of the net to seal the 5-0 win.
“They played much better and made things more crisp,” says Kidd. “I was able to move players around into new positions which made it more fun for them and they played harder.”
The Titans finished the season with a record of 6-3-2 and since it was their inaugural season, they are not eligible for post-season play. Nevertheless, the energy surrounding girls soccer is at an all-time high and Kidd expects big things from the program in the near future as they will officially join the league next year and be eligible for a bid to the state tournament.
“I think we’re going to be at the top of the league. We’re not far off of the top teams,” says Kidd. “I’m only graduating two seniors and that’s nothing, and the exciting thing is I have sixth and seventh graders telling me they’re going to play in high school. There’s a buzz.”
