Titans girls soccer opens season this weekend

Look to break the semifinal barrier

[  by Than Acuff  ]

After starting the Crested Butte Titans girls high school soccer program and building it into a perennial state contender, Julia Kidd stepped down this year as head coach and Heather Culley has stepped into the position.

Culley grew up playing both club and high school soccer and went on to play collegiate soccer for two years at Midwestern State before an injury ended her career. She started her coaching career locally at the West Elk Soccer club and worked with a lot of the players on the team currently through the club ranks and joined the high school staff with Kidd in 2020.

“I’ve been with some of these girls for a long time,” says Culley. “I’m pumped. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Culley was there last season when the girls had to play a COVID season, which was shorter and carried over into the summer even after school was done. It was an interesting year to say the least but the girls won their first round state game against Buena Vista 1-0 and then lost to Telluride in the 2A semifinals.

“Making it to the semis against Telluride was exciting and I think it’s motivating them this year,” says Culley. “We lost seven to eight seniors but we have a lot of girls returning and a good group of freshmen that came in this year.”

Matt Wilson, Tom Lewis and Eliza Montano are joining Culley as coaches and she also has a goalkeeper coach to help out.

“It’s pretty awesome,” says Culley.

Culley has 25 players on the roster, not an ideal number she admits. As a result, she has decided to go with a fluid roster this season. Meaning, there is no starting squad set in stone but spots can be gained or lost week in and week out.

“It helps to keep our practices more competitive,” says Culley.

As for practices, the team hit the field, a mix of grass and snow, in Gunnison starting on Monday, February 28 and have a unique practice schedule as they work with the weather as well as other athletics including morning sessions indoors Tuesdays and Thursdays and then outside on grass Mondays and Fridays. Every Wednesday, the team is treated to practice on the turf field at Western Colorado University. In addition, they will host all of their home games on the turf field.

“It’s nice to get some grass time before we start playing games,” says Culley. “We get to play all of our home games on the turf field so we should be in pretty good shape playing on that massive field.”

Maddie Bogard, Campbell Ryan and Ellie O’Neal were named captains for the 2022 team and they open the season on the road as they head to the Aspen area to play Basalt on Friday, March 11 and then Aspen on Saturday, March 12. Their first home game is on Tuesday, March 29 and the  schedule consists of the usual league suspects of Telluride, Ridgway, Del Norte and Ignacio as well as a strong list of non-league 3A opponents.

“I think our schedule is looking pretty good,” says Culley.  

The goal of the team is pretty straightforward. After years of reaching the state semifinals only to get bumped from the big show, they plan on cracking the seal this year.

“They want to make it back to the semis and walk away with a win,” says Cully.