Soccer team Battles to league wins over past week

Big showdowns with Gunnison and Aspen this week

By Than Acuff

Despite injuries and game weariness after a frantic opening four weeks to the season, the Crested Butte Titans soccer team rattled off league wins over the Ridgway Demons and the Telluride Miners last week.

The Titans hit the road on Tuesday, September 24 to face the Demons and while they finished with a 4-1 win, the scoreline does not reflect a game that could have ended in a 4-4 tie.

The Titans got on the board early when a diagonal pass from Marin Gardner sent Wyatt Cook down the flank and he cut inside to fire his shot past the Ridgway keeper for a 1-0 lead four minutes into the game.

While it looked like the Titans were in the driver’s seat, a compact midfield and a well-organized offsides trap by the Demons handcuffed the Titans and the Demons threatened to tie the game up on a penalty kick, but the attempt sailed over the crossbar leaving the Titans’ tenuous one-goal lead intact.

Crested Butte tacked on a second goal midway through the half when a back pass from Rowan Dishmon to Shawn Moran opened a lane to goal for Moran and he finished it off to give the Titans a 2-0 lead that held until halftime.

Crested Butte built a 3-0 lead nine minutes into the second half when Moran scored on a penalty kick and 10 minutes later, they scored their fourth goal of the game when Magnus Sandusky collected a throw in and slipped a pass to Moran for his third goal of the game completing the hat trick.

The Demons did threaten on several occasions throughout the half and finally broke the seal on a set piece play, but it was too late as the Titans finished with a 4-1 win.

Crested Butte then turned their attention to their Homecoming game on Friday, September 27 against Telluride. These two programs have faced each other for 20 years with either Crested Butte or Telluride scheduling it as a Homecoming game and it’s always a hard fought, tight battle.

This year was no different as the Miners brought the energy in the opening 15 minutes to take an early 1-0 lead. While the initial strike stung in front of a massive homecoming crowd, Crested Butte remained composed and patient with their efforts finding their rhythm up and down the field.

“Our boys took a knockout punch right on the chin during the first few minutes of a massive home game, and they just shrugged it off and got back to work,” says coach Matt Wilson. “It was an incredible response to a goal that we shouldn’t have conceded in the first place.”

Having survived the initial Miner surge, the Titans got to work and a combination of passes down the middle between Moran and Sawyer Barney finished with Moran getting free and picking the low corner to tie the game 1-1.

Both teams continued to trade punches throughout the half and the Titans struck again when Eli Hulm stripped the ball off a Miner defender and slipped his shot near post for a 2-1 Titans’ lead at halftime.

“These boys are resilient and rely heavily on each other to get through difficult games like these,” says Wilson. “The first goal happened because of great combination play, and the go-ahead goal was a straight up hustle play. So that shift in momentum was just a byproduct of their resiliency and trust in each other to get the job done.”

While the game’s physicality continued in the second half, both teams had a couple of chances on net, including two close calls by Telluride down the stretch, but neither could find the finishing touch and the Titans closed out the 2-1 Homecoming win.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying,” says Wilson. “We were getting in behind Telluride’s back line, had multiple attempts on goal, and spent most of the time in their half. We just couldn’t find the back of the net in the second half, but we also didn’t concede a goal either, so overall we were very happy with the result.”

“The boys and I came into this homecoming game with the most energy I’ve seen all year,” says senior captain Marin Gardner. “Because of that I think we performed at a level above our opponent, and I hope to see that in the future. I along with my teammates couldn’t have asked for a better homecoming game than a 2-1 victory over Telluride.”

The Titans have two big challenges as they face Gunnison at Gunnison’s Homecoming game and then host Aspen at the CBCS field on Saturday, October 5 at 3 p.m. After that the Titans go quiet with no games scheduled and then go into the October Break. They return to action when they host Ridgway on Wednesday, October 23.

“We have some tough games coming up, but the boys are looking great overall,” says Wilson. “We’ll continue practicing at game pace and studying film so we can get the boys ready for the final push toward playoffs.”

“Despite a few disappointing results in the past weeks, I believe this homecoming game got us back into our groove as a team,” adds Gardner. “The team chemistry along with enthusiasm has really seemed to come back to life within training sessions and in our most recent homecoming game. It’s exciting and encouraging to see the team perform at a level I know we can.”