Lacrosse gaining ground in second season

“I think they’re having fun”

[  by Than Acuff  ]

In just their second year playing lacrosse, the Crested Butte Titans are making progress in their JV schedule winning three of their last four games.

The state high school activities governing board requires all new sports to play two years of a JV schedule before they step into a varsity program and the Titans are making the most of the opportunity to continue learning the game of lacrosse and build excitement around the sport.

They opened the last stretch of games at home against Telluride and while Telluride dictated play through the first half building a 3-1 lead, the Titans battled back to make it tight before losing 4-3. They followed that up with a three-game winning streak beating Grand Junction 4-3, Vanguard 11-0 and Summit 14-2 with numerous players involved in the scoring.

“The improvement has come from the upper classmen,” says coach Buck Seling. “We’re sharing the ball better and moving the ball better. We had nine different scorers against Vanguard and 10 different scorers against Summit.”

Seling touts the effort of senior attackman Kody Bodine. Bodine is a varsity level player who makes a point of working to set up his teammates for success as well.

“Kody has been able to get more people involved and getting other players the ball,” says Seling.

When the team started their workouts, the goalie spot was a question mark but Gavin Fischer stepped into the position against Telluride and has remained there committed to the job and working to get better as a shot stopper as well as bringing the ball up the field from the goalie spot.

“He’s really stepping up for us,” says Seling. “All he wants to do is go to practice and get shot on, you like to see that.”

The major ingredient to the Titans’ improvements has come from a couple of faceoff specialists in Fraser Birnie and Henry Hubbard. Games are won or lost at the faceoff and to have two faceoff specialists allows the Titans to control more of the game.

“We’re getting really good play from our face-off guys,” says Seling. “Having both of them has made us a lot stronger.”

The last two lopsided wins also opened the door for the Titans to get more time on the field, with the ball, in game situations.

“You can’t replicate game speed in practice,” says Seling. “When we get a cushion we’re able to possess the ball more, be patient and get some different guys in there.”

The Titans head to Grand Junction this weekend for a tough match and remain on the road for most of April as they look to continue the process of building a varsity program from scratch.

“I think they’re having fun,” says Seling.