The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We want to bounce back with sharper execution and consistency”
By Than Acuff
After handing the Ridgway Demons a 5-0 loss on Tuesday, September 23, the Crested Butte Titans soccer team fell to the Telluride Miners, in Telluride, 1-0 on Friday, September 26.
While on paper the matchup with Ridgway was tilted in Crested Butte’s favor, you never know what a team will bring game day, so the Titans were looking to keep building on their progress thus far this season.
“We treated the game as a chance to keep building confidence, sharpen our ball movement, and get minutes for a lot of the boys,” says coach Matt Wilson. “The focus was on us maintaining our level regardless of the opponent.”
The Demons proved to be more than what their record dictated and brought a better game to the field than in years past, causing the Titans some unrest through the opening 30 minutes. While Crested Butte scored in the 11th minute when Tor Jennison assisted Shawn Moran, they spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to unlock the Demon defense. They finally found the secret with quick passing from back to front opening up Ridgway’s team and Moran slipped a pass through to Max Naughton for him to slip in near post.
One minute later Jennison found Naughton open through the Demon’s back line and Naughton picked the near post again. Moran finished off the half scoring off a pass from Bennett Crabtree for a 4-0 lead at halftime.
“We were a little casual in the final third and didn’t play up to our level,” says Wilson. “The buildup play was fine, but our finishing lacked urgency until the last stretch of the half when we broke through.”
Crested Butte switched gears for the second half to ramp up the pace and the effort paid off 12 minutes in when Moran knocked down a corner kick to Matias Bonnaterre and Bonnaterre poked it in for a 5-0 lead that would hold until the final whistle.
The Titans then turned their attention to the Miners in Telluride and as expected, were embroiled in a tight match from start to finish.
“Telluride away is always tricky, especially on their pitch,” says Wilson. “We knew space would be tight, and it turned into a slug fest just like we anticipated.”
As the two teams were fighting for possession in the midfield third, neither could crack the final third of the field and while they each had a chance or two to score in the first half, neither could break the seal on the other’s net.
“The field made it hard to open up and play our style,” says Wilson. “We had trouble connecting in the attack and never quite found the rhythm we needed in the final third. Defensively we were solid and didn’t give away much. The boys worked hard to stay compact and limit their looks at goal.”
Telluride would eventually convert on a set piece in the second half to go up 1-0 and while Crested Butte pressed hard in the final 15 minutes, Telluride’s defense and goalie proved impenetrable as they held on for the 1-0 win.
“It came down to execution on one or two chances,” says Wilson. “They finished theirs, and we didn’t. At this level, that’s often the difference in a tight game.”
Crested Butte’s schedule shows no signs of letting up with games against Gunnison and Aspen as they look to get back on track after the loss.
“We want to bounce back with sharper execution and consistency,” says Wilson. “These games are about cleaning up the details, finding our attacking rhythm and building momentum before we see Telluride again at home at the end of the regular season.”
