Middle School Titans dominate at Delta soccer tournament

U-14 brings home some hardware

The Crested Butte under-14 soccer team battled through four games in two days to win the Delta County Youth Soccer Association league tournament this past weekend.
The Titans wasted no time setting the tone in their first game against Lake City on Saturday, October 25 with the help of striker Cal Fenerty. Fenerty fired a shot past Lake City’s goalkeeper in the first five minutes of the game to put Crested Butte up 1-0. It was only minutes later when Pharwit Durgan nailed a 30-foot shot into the upper left hand corner of the goal. Crested Butte never looked back as they went on to win the game 4-0.
In the second game, it was all Marissa “Betsey” Lambert. Leaving nothing to chance, Lambert decided to put the team on her shoulders. While the Titans held strong on the defensive end, Lambert found the back of the net on three different occasions. Tristan Kraatz slipped a beautiful left-footed shot past the keeper to finish off the scoring for Crested Butte and to win the game 4-0.
Sunday was like déjà vu, with Cal Fenerty putting the young Titans up 1-0 against Delta with a goal only minutes into the first half. In the second half, Aaron Blunck scored on a penalty kick to put Crested Butte up 2-0, but the goal of the game came late in the second half from Annie Ochs. From 20 yards out and a defender on her left hip, Ochs rifled a right-footed shot into the far upper corner of the goal to close the game 3-0, Crested Butte over Delta.
In the final game, Crested Butte knew they were going to face their toughest challenge. In order to win the title, they would have to beat Hotchkiss. The Titans faced Hotchkiss twice in the regular season and lost both times, 4-3 and 4-0. With a defense led by Dylan Curtiss that held their first three opponents scoreless, Crested Butte entered the game with a whole new confidence they had not shown all season.
Midway through the first half, Crested Butte struck first, with Lambert powering through a group of defenders to place the ball in the left corner of the goal. The game went into halftime with Crested Butte leading 1-0. In the second half, Hotchkiss evened the score with a breakaway goal.
With 10 minutes left in the game, Crested Butte had an opportunity to take the lead with a penalty kick that sailed over the crossbar. Undaunted, Crested Butte kept the pressure on and in the final minutes of the game, Ian Boucher played a pass down the right line to Aaron Blunck. Blunck dribbled through two defenders and put a left footed shot into the back of the net.
The Titans won the game 2-1, and took home the 2008 DCYSA Tournament Championship.