Titans lacrosse rebounds with win over Montrose

First home game Thursday at 4 p.m.

[  by Than Acuff  ]

After penalties and injuries spelled the demise of the Crested Butte Titans lacrosse team against Fruita Monument, the team recovered to take down Montrose and hope to carry that momentum into their first home game of the season on the new turf on Thursday, March 19 at 4 p.m.

Fruita Monument was slated to be a tough challenge for the Titans on Thursday, March 12 as they finished the season last year 12-5 making their way into the second round of the post season.

“We were expecting a fast, physical game and that’s exactly what we got,” says assistant coach Alex Solomon. “Fruita has size and speed, and we knew it would be a great test for us.”

Fruita scored first to open the game, but the Titans responded as both Wyatt Cook and Luke Walton scored from outside to give the Titans a 2-1 lead after the first quarter of play.

“We played a great first quarter and our defense really stepped up despite Fruita’s size, speed and depth,” says Solomon. “On offense we took advantage of opportunities and let our athletes play. We had several other looks though that just missed the cage, so we were really on the attack in the first quarter.”

Fruita then took advantage of Titan penalties early in the second quarter scoring two goals on man-up situations eventually taking a 6-4 lead into the third quarter, but the Titans scored in the opening minutes of the third to pull within one before additional penalties and injuries allowed Fruita to close out the game with a 13-6 win. Walton led the scoring with three goals with solo strikes coming from Cook, Dawson Eastep and Vinnie Sciortino.

“We were right there but penalties and turnovers killed us in the second half, as did our depth,” says Solomon. “When we were even, we were very much in it despite their depth and size advantage, the penalties made all the difference. Defense played great despite missing some key contributors and when we ran the offense, we were able to make some plays. Overall, Coach Carter and I were very happy with the effort and performance on Thursday against a tough opponent.”

The Titans returned to the road on Saturday, March 14 to face the Montrose Red Hawks still depleted from the Fruita game but when the coaches called on bench players to step up, they answered the call as the Titans came out on fire and carried that energy to the final horn.

Crested Butte jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Montrose recovered to slow down the Titans’ offense and score two goals leaving Crested Butte with a 4-2 lead by halftime. A couple of adjustments at halftime to their offense made all the difference for Crested Butte as they scored four goals in the third quarter and three in the fourth quarter to pull away for the 11-5 win. Walton finished with four goals and two assists, Cook also scored four goals while Eastep had a goal and two assists, Bennett Crabtree and Mario Ladoulis scored one goal each and Charlie Reamer tallied two assists. Goalie Mason Colucci finished with 14 saves on the day.

“We shifted the offense a bit to take advantage of some mismatches, allowing players like Wyatt Cook, Luke Walton and Dawson Eastep to beat their men 1v1 and score some goals,” says Solomon. “We also took advantage of some man-up situations and kept our foot on the gas until the end. The offense is looking really good and getting better each week, and the defense is playing well too despite having to play a number of reserves.”

Crested Butte has a big game coming up as they host the Telluride Miners on Thursday, March 19 at 4 p.m. and look to match up better with the Miners this season.

Telluride always fields a competitive team, play fundamentally sound lacrosse and are consistently one of the best teams in our league year after year,” says Solomon. “That said, I believe this is the best team we’ve had as a program and if we can clean up the penalties and get some of those key contributors back, we can play with anyone. We’re hoping to see a big crowd on Thursday to support the team and give us that true home field advantage.”