Titans soccer gets back on winning track

“I think it came down to belief in themselves individually and, more importantly, belief in each other”

by Than Acuff

After injuries had the coaches scrambling line ups through the first half of the season, the Crested Butte boys’ soccer team is finally back to full strength and knocked off both the Gunnison Cowboys and the Fountain Valley Danes over the past week.

But it wasn’t easy.

It started Wednesday, September 23 under the lights as the Titans and Cowboys squared off as part of Gunnison’s Homecoming week. Crested Butte defeated the Cowboys earlier this season 3-1 but Gunnison has racked up a handful of positive results this season including a 1-1 draw with the top 3A team in the state as well as a 4-2 win over Aspen recently.

Fueled by their hometown Homecoming crowd and mixing pace with possession, Gunnison created the opening scoring chances of the game with two clear looks on net, but the final touches flew wide of the Titans’ net.

Crested Butte eventually found their footing, creating a couple of counterattack chances leading to the first goal of the game 35 minutes in when a pass cross field from Tyler Jeffery slipped through to Kyle Moran on the weakside and Moran touched it past the oncoming Cowboy goalie for a 1-0 Titans’ lead.

“That first goal was huge, especially because we had just made a significant formation change and were asking the boys to execute something new under the lights, on the road, against a very good Gunnison team on their Homecoming night,” says coach Matt Wilson.

Crested Butte and Gunnison continued to battle with physical play in the midfield and as the game progressed, the Titans’ backline of Blake Bacani, Isaac Jennings, Cody Olesen and Jonah Zobs got tighter and tighter to deny the Cowboys any clear looks on net. Gage Goodnough and Tanner Harpel cleaned up loose balls as defensive-minded midfielders and turned wide to get the Crested Butte attack going and the Titans held their 1-0 lead going into halftime.

“We needed to tighten the space between our back four and midfield, but I also loved how the new formation allowed us to spread our best players around the field and attack through the middle or out wide,” says Wilson.

The Titans added to their lead in the 11th minute of the second half when Tor Jennison took a pass from Harpel and got a step on his defender just outside the 18-yard box to fire a low shot to the bottom corner. The Cowboys continued to push but Crested Butte held off the Cowboy surge to finish with the 2-0 win with goalie Jakob Klemme recording his third shutout of the season.

“I think it came down to belief in themselves individually and, more importantly, belief in each other,” says Wilson. “I think the early season adversity helped them get locked in, find their identity and discover who they are as a team.”

Three days later the Titans hit the road to face the Danes in Colorado Springs. Fountain Valley came into the game ranked in the top 15 in 3A and often bring some serious talent to the field.

“I knew Fountain Valley could be dangerous, especially at home, because they came in with a strong record and had several players who could hurt us if we gave them opportunities,” says Wilson.

The grass field, long bus ride and sunny skies had the Titans stumbling through the first five minutes of the game and Fountain Valley seized on the lethargy to strike first four minutes into the game.

“Fountain Valley came out with a lot of energy in the heat and capitalized in those first five minutes,” says Wilson. “Credit to them for taking advantage of that opportunity, but I was confident our boys would settle in and respond.”

And they did just that as the Titans responded with two goals in three minutes to take a 2-1 lead almost immediately and carry the advantage through the rest of the first half.

“I was really proud of how the boys responded because they didn’t panic or change the way they were playing after that early goal,” says Wilson.

Fountain Valley did use their midfield to look for success down the middle, but the Titans defense remained compact and Klemme came up with a massive save to help maintain the Titans’ 2-1 lead through the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Titans earned some breathing room 21 minutes into the second half as a foul in the Fountain Valley penalty area led to a penalty kick and Jennison smashed it in for a 3-1 lead that would hold until the final whistle.

“I was happy with the result, but I was even happier with the way we responded to adversity and how comfortable the boys looked in the new formation,” says Wilson. “They created numerous opportunities, fought for each other and really took to the new setup, and that’s something we can build on moving forward.”

The Titans are on the road against Ridgway and then host the Aspen Skiers on Saturday, October 3 at 2 p.m. as they look to continue fine-tuning their formation and personnel.

“Aspen is going to be a challenging puzzle because of their size and physicality, and they do a good job using that size to overwhelm teams,” says Wilson. “We’re smaller and faster, so if we can move the ball quickly, move them around and get them out of position, I think we’ll give ourselves a great opportunity to be successful at home.”