The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Based on the way we played in the first half we weren’t stressed or panicked that we hadn’t scored”
By Than Acuff
It took nearly 70 minutes during the Crested Butte Titans girls’ soccer first round playoff game on Saturday, May 10 to advance, but they did it and are now headed to the 2A state tournament quarterfinals.
The Titans entered the state tournament the fourth seed and were slated to face the Gilpin County Eagles for their first game of the post season.
“They did pretty well against some good teams and had a very strong striker,” says head coach Tom Lewis. “We thought if we could shut her down, we should be good.”
As was hoped, the Titans opened the game at full throttle with a potent mix of possession and pace looking wide to both Dakota Redden and Madeline Fitzgerald to attack the Eagles from the flank. The plan worked as both flanks managed to find space and push the attack setting up a handful of early chances for the Titans. After initial attempts to break down Gilpin County’s back four were thwarted, Nora Thomes found room from distance to fire a shot off the crossbar followed by additional strikes from Redden, Calla Fenlon and Thea Barney.
“We wanted to see if we could score early,” says Lewis. “We recognized we didn’t need to sit back, we could go for it early on.”
Crested Butte continued to turn the screws on Gilpin County with the Titans midfield dominating everything in the middle third of the field and the back three of the Titans’ formation leaving little for Gilpin County to attack with and turning the ball back upfield for additional possession-based attacks.
Crested Butte’s next best scoring chance came from Fenlon in the 30th minute when she fired a shot to the corner, but the Eagles’ goalie made another save to deny Fenlon and the two teams headed into halftime scoreless.
“Based on the way we played in the first half we weren’t stressed or panicked that we hadn’t scored,” says Lewis.
The Eagles stuck with their plan to pack the defense often dropping a player into a sweeper position to help fend off Crested Butte’s efforts. The Titans remained patient looking both down the middle as well as switching the point of attack through the midfield trying to break the Eagles defense down. Gilpin County continued to hold on though fending off Crested Butte’s successive attacks as time ticked away on the clock.
“They compacted the box really well and we just couldn’t push through,” says Lewis.
Ultimately, the constant attack by Crested Butte paid off 28 minutes into the second half as Molly Miller gathered a throw in and dribbled past two defenders to carry the ball down the line for a cross. The Titans crashed the penalty area for Miller’s cross and Kaylen Buckel connected to volley the ball past the Eagle goalie for a 1-0 Crested Butte lead.
“We’ve been putting Kaylen up top some this season using her speed,” says Lewis. “We have players on the bench willing to come on and contribute and they’re scoring goals.”
Crested Bute remained in the driver’s seat setting up a handful of additional shots following the goal, but the Eagles remained on point to hold the Titans off. Yet any chance by Gilpin County to counterattack were easily thwarted by the Titans’ defense and they continued to feed the ball forward to create additional chances for Crested Butte.
“When we did need to defend, the back three and midfield did really well,” says Lewis.
The effort paid off once again in the 36th minute when Miller found room wide to fire a cross into the penalty area. Fenlon stepped in front of an Eagle defender to tip the ball and while Gilpin County’s goalie made the initial stop, Fenlon followed to tuck in the loose ball and seal the 2-0 Titans’ win.
“That goal put it to bed,” says Lewis. “We have so much attacking potential. If we defend well, we’re going to create lots of chances to score and we did.”
The win sends the Titans to the quarterfinals where they will face Frontier Academy. Win that game and the Titans advance to the semifinals at All-City Stadium in Denver on Saturday, May 17.
“They’ll be a good test,” says Lewis. “They’re in the quarterfinals for a reason, they’re a good team.”
