The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We have the ability to score goals and a well-structured defense”
[ by Than Acuff ]The Crested Butte Titans girls’ soccer team wrapped up a big week finishing with two league wins and tying the number one 2A team in the state too. They are now 8-3-3 on the season.
After handing the Ridgway Demons a 7-0 loss, the Titans doubled down on league opponents rolling to a 7-2 win over the Telluride Miners on Thursday, April 24 and securing the league title.
Telluride has always been a stout opponent for the Titans, but things have changed recently with the Titans continuing to rise and the Miners going through a bit of a slump. But the opening 10 minutes showed an inspired effort from the Miners and while the Titans did get a couple early looks, Telluride provided a challenge as well bringing intensity to their home field against Crested Butte.
“Our pre-game goal for the girls was to possess more and we were trying to but on the small field we struggled a bit,” says head coach Tom Lewis.
The Miners’ goalie also came up with a couple big saves early on, but the Titans ultimately found success when Calla Fenlon broke free on a through ball and scored 12 minutes into the game. They continued to pressure the Miners in their own half to fire off additional shots, but the Miners managed to stave off the repeated attacks. Any chance at counterattacks were quickly thwarted by Crested Butte’s defense though and the Titans kept pushing and ultimately scored again when Thea Barney followed on a shot off the post to bang it home for a 2-0 lead in the 32nd minute.
A minute later Hadley Brewer played the ball through to Molly Miller and Miller tapped it past the oncoming Telluride keeper and tucked it away for a 3-0 lead.
“Fresh legs definitely helped and Matt (Wilson) has our back three getting higher up the field when we’re attacking and I think that helped us keep the pressure on a lot,” says Lewis.
Telluride did have the final say of the half scoring from distance but the Titans were well in control heading into halftime up 3-1, although not satisfied.
“As coaches we were happy with the first half, but the girls didn’t seem to be,” says Lewis.
The Titans struck two more times in the opening 15 minutes of the second half as Fenlon and Barney each netted their second goals of the game to go up 5-1 but Telluride did respond once more taking advantage of a set piece to score.
“Conceding from set pieces has been a problem for us,” says Lewis.
It was merely a blip though as Fenlon scored two more times to seal the 7-2 win.
“At the end of the day it was our third game with the new formation and we’re seeing progress,” says Lewis. “We have the ability to score goals and have a well-structured defense.”
The Titans then faced their biggest 2A challenge of the season when they hosted the number one 2A team in the state, Colorado Springs Christian, on Saturday, April 26.
It was a high-paced contest between the two 2A heavy hitters from the opening kickoff with Crested Butte maintaining their new formation and focusing their continued efforts on a possession oriented attack. While the Titans did have the edge on possession, Colorado Springs Christian struck first capitalizing on a miscue for a 1-0 lead 25 minutes into the game.
The goal did little to slow the Titans down though as they rattled off five more shots throughout the rest of the first half including a shot off the post in the final moments of the half from Fenlon, but Colorado Springs Christian held their slim lead into halftime.
Crested Butte maintained their energy level in the second half and tied the game seven minutes in when Nora Thomes fought off a stout defender to head home a corner kick from Fenlon.
The Titans continued to attack but fell short of finding the deciding goal and goalie Bryce Haskel made a save late in the game as the teams finished with a 1-1 tie.
Crested Butte wraps up the regular season on the road as they face Montrose on Friday, May 2 looking to secure one of the top seeds in 2A so they can host their opening games of the 2A state tournament starting May 10.
