Titans soccer struggles in opening weekend of league play

Preparing for Pagosa Springs this weekend

It’s a tough way to start out, facing two of the perennial top programs in the opening week of league play. The Titans soccer team had one of its toughest weeks of competition last week, opening with Telluride on Thursday, September 15 followed by a showdown with Ridgway on Saturday and culminating with tough non-league opponent Salida on Tuesday, September 20.
Thursday’s game was a back-and-forth slugfest as the Titans and Telluride traded off sustained attacks all game long.
Telluride struck first in the 25th minute, draining a direct kick from 25 yards out. The Titans took the goal in stride and took over the tempo of the game to finish the half strong.
Sustained pressure from the Titans resulted in a corner kick and the Titans converted when junior Jesse Reeves drove the ball low and hard to the top of the six. Senior Luis Aguirre got a touch on the ball and it squirted across the face of the net for senior Ben Reaman to slam home for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Telluride pounded at the Titans net for the opening 15 minutes of the second half but the Titans defense and sophomore goalie Ian Dethloff held off the attack.
The Titans took back the game’s momentum but couldn’t convert on a couple of late-set plays, forcing the game into overtime.
Telluride came close to sealing the win with a couple of shots off the crossbar and the Titans mounted random scraps of attack, but the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
The Titans then hit the road to face the Ridgway Demons on Saturday, September 17. Ridgway won the league the last three years and has beaten the Titans five of their last six meetings.
Pouring rain and cold temperatures neutralized nearly all hopes of a possession-oriented attack from the Titans.
Touches were hard and passes missed their mark on several occasions.
The Titans pushed the pace, looking to find a seam in the Demon defense but the two teams finished the first half locked in a scoreless tie.
The Titans broke the scoring stalemate in the 60th minute when Prawit Durgan floated a shot from 25 yards out to catch the Demon keeper off his line for a 1-0 Titans lead.
But as the game wore on, the Titans wore down and the Demons countered with two quick breakaways in the period of five minutes to score twice and take a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes left.
Gassed and frustrated, the Titans struggled to recover, dropping another tight game to Ridgway 2-1.
Morale had tanked and the team pulled together Monday for a workout complete with rainbows and unicorns as they prepared for their third match in six days.
While the “workout” had a positive effect on team unity, the Titans showed up against Salida sluggish. Nevertheless, they controlled the pace a majority of the first half.
The payoff came 20 minutes in, when senior Luis Aguirre slid the ball across the top of the penalty box to senior Collin Dill and Dill cracked his shot into the upper corner for a 1-0 lead.
Salida came back in the second half to tie the game on a penalty kick and then converted on a set play to take a 2-1 lead with eight minutes left in regulation.
The Titans dug deep and took control of the game. Freshman Kaleb Schultz pushed forward on the outside and crossed the ball into the six-yard bow. A misplay by the Salida keeper left the ball bouncing loose and Dill followed to hammer it home and tie the game, forcing it into overtime.
The Titans threatened on several occasions during extended play but shots flew wide and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
“We worked really hard to get the tie,” says coach Mike Martin. “We disappeared for a little while but we came back and started pressuring the ball.”
The Titans remained a bit dinged up with a couple of starters missing the game due to injury but Martin saw others fill the gaps and play hard.
“We’ve had such a rough schedule with a lot of games and we had some injuries but we had other players step up and play well,” says Martin.
The Titans will return to league play when they host Pagosa Springs on Saturday, September 24 at 11 a.m.
“We’re a little worse for wear,” says Martin. “We’ve lost a few key players and we need to figure out how to take our game to the next level and come away with a win.”