The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We started out rusty but proved in the second game that we’re ready to play”
[ by Than Acuff ]
The Crested Butte Titans girls soccer team kicked off the 2022 season on the road with a couple of non-league opponents from the other side of the Elk Mountains falling to Basalt 3-1 on Friday, March 11 and then to Aspen 2-1 on Saturday, March 12.
The first weekend of play is always a bit of a shock to the system for the girls soccer team as they spend a majority of preseason training sharing a field with another sports program or in the gym. This year the girls are fortunate enough to get some time on the Western Colorado University turf field but, even with the added benefit, they still had trouble getting any full field scrimmage work in.
“We didn’t have a full field scrimmage with everyone and we only had one day of actual shooting on a goal but I think they were as prepared as they could be,” says coach Heather Culley.
Both Basalt and Aspen are teams the girls have never faced in their past so the trip to was a bit of unchartered territory for the Titans and made for a shaky start to the first game against Basalt.
“We had no idea what to expect,” says Culley. “We had to shake off some nerves at the start of the first half and they got a couple early breakaway goals.”
Once the initial shock wore off though and Culley made some adjustments on the field, the Titans started to match Basalt’s effort.
“They were just sending the ball up the middle but once we adjusted things on our back line it was a close game and we fought pretty hard,” says Culley.
Basalt netted one more goal at the start of the second half but the Titans stayed even with them and the effort paid off as Leigh Harpel scored toward the end to crack the seal on the Basalt goal.
“They were pretty good and it was good to see them this early in the season,” says Culley. “The competition was really good for us.”
The Titans then had the benefit of seeing Telluride play Aspen later that day as Crested Butte had Aspen up the next day and would face Telluride later this season in league play.
“We figured out Aspen’s formation and who they liked to play the ball to and made the adjustment,” says Culley.
Having a game under their belt and an idea of what Aspen brought to the field made a world of difference as Crested Butte played even soccer with Aspen for the first 60 minutes with the team locked in a 0-0 tie.
Aspen eventually scored and then followed with a second goal but the Titans stayed in the fight looking to pull off some late game heroics. They got a bump late in the game when Nevada Scales scored off a corner kick but the tying goal eluded them as they fell 2-1.
“We kept fighting,” says Culley.
While dropping the first two games is a tough way to start, the weekend provided just what the Titans needed as they continue to push into the season.
“We started off rusty but proved in the second game that we’re ready to play,” says Culley. “They were good games to start with and we got a chance to see where we need to put our focus in the next week.”
The Titans continue on a heavy road schedule as they face 4A Summit high school on Saturday, March 19.
The Titans will host their first home game of the season on Friday, April 1 when they host Buena Vista at the Katy O’Rady turf field at Western Colorado University. Kick off is at 3 p.m.
