The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Heading into big showdown
by Than Acuff
After a long winless girls basketball season, several of the Crested Butte Titans players are now on the other end of games with the girls soccer team this spring, as they have racked up five wins in their first six games and are on top of the league standings.
Despite still having only one practice on grass, the Titans appear to be making the transition from gym practices to games outside rather smoothly as they continued their winning ways last week, handing the Center Vikings a 10-0 drubbing on Wednesday, March 27.
“With only one practice on grass, the fact that we’re winning at all is awesome,” says coach Julia Kidd.
Kidd knew the game would be relatively easy since the Titans have had little trouble with the Vikings for the past two seasons. As a result, Kidd wanted her players to use the opportunity to not just secure another win, but also to enjoy the chance to get time playing outside.
“I wanted them to make use of being on a field,” says Kidd. “Just playing on grass feels good.”
The Titans jumped out to an early and then commanding lead working on quicker play to rack up seven goals in the first half alone.
“I wanted them to focus on playing quicker soccer,” says Kidd. “Once we started getting ahead, I told them they could only take two or three touches with the ball and had to make four passes before they even took a shot. I also wanted them to think about anticipating plays and continue to work on their soccer IQ.”
Rachel Potoker and Stevee Reinhart led the Titans with three goals each with Hazie McNellis, Anabelle Faivre, Karina Davalos and Tess Fenerty each netting one goal.
The Titans now have a tough showdown this week as they face the Del Norte Tigers. Del Norte is nipping at the heels of the Titans at the top of the standings and handed Crested Butte a tough loss last year. A win against Del Norte would build a gap on the Tigers as well as Telluride with the season reaching the midway point.
“That’s a really important game,” says Kidd.
Crested Butte then heads to Alamosa to face Ignacio and while their schedule has the Titans hosting their first game of the season next week in Gunnison, the fields remain covered in snow.
“They started to plow the field but are finding that it’s harder than they expected,” says Kidd. “We will see.”
