The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Overall it was a successful season given the challenges”
[ by Than Acuff ]
Despite dropping two of the last three games of the season, the Crested Butte Titans lacrosse team had a successful inaugural year in action. When the season started, they had no semblance of a schedule, but thanks to the diligent work of athletics director Jarrod Hinton and head lacrosse coach Bud Seling, the team ended up with a JV schedule of 12 games and finished the season 6-6.
“A lot of programs that have been around a long time had trouble finding games but we’ll play anybody, anywhere to get that game experience, it’s important,” says Seling.
They started off their final stretch of the season with a game against the Steamboat Springs JV on Thursday, June 10. The Titans fell behind 2-1 in the first quarter but built a 4-3 lead by halftime and, thanks to a stellar 10-save effort from Logan Breiner in net, finished with a 6-4 win. Brendan Hartigan, Henry Hubbard and Jack Pierson each scored two goals apiece to help pace the Titans to the win.
“It was a tight game the entire way,” says Seling. “We were missing our top scoring attackman but the players stepped up. That was a big victory.”
Crested Butte returned to the road once again on Saturday, June 12 for two games starting with the Air Academy JV followed soon after with a game against the Pine Creek JV.
The Titans got off to a rough start that day against Air Academy as a miscommunication led to a late arrival to the game field leaving the Titans little time to warm up.
“That got us flustered,” says Seling.
In addition, players had to sit out part of the game for a variety of reasons but Ty Pulliam stepped into net for the first quarter and, along with the teammates able to play, finished the first quarter tied 1-1 with Air Academy.
Eventually, Air Academy took over the game building a 7-1 lead by the fourth quarter and finishing with a 9-2 win. Lance Lakoski and Kody Bodine had the goals for Crested Butte.
“We were disjointed in that first game and the other team just took over,” says Seling. “Their goalie was outstanding and they had good athletes and good stick work.”
The Titans got a 25-minute break before returning to face Pine Creek. Pine Creek had eked out a win over Air Academy earlier in the day so, on paper, Pine Creek was the odds on favorite. They opened the game taking a 2-0 lead but Crested Butte battled back to pull within one before falling shy of the comeback losing 4-3. Breiner finished with 10 saves as Bodine, Riley Davis and Ace Gaither each scored one for the Titans.
“After that first game our players really stepped up,” says Seling. “It was a great way to finish the season even though we came up on the short end. It was beneficial for us to play those faster teams.”
While it was a tough season to start a lacrosse program given the COVID altered schedule, Seling believes the future looks bright for Crested Butte lacrosse.
“Overall, it was a successful year given the challenges,” says Seling. “We only have three seniors and I’m hearing eight or nine may join us from the West Elk club and other kids are interested who didn’t play this year because of the time of the season. If everyone comes back I could have 30 players on the roster next year. A goal of mine is to get to 40 by 2023.”
