The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Friday night lights spurns team to shootout win
The Crested Butte Titans soccer team always rallies Friday night under the lights at the annual Classical Academy tournament and this year was no different.
The Titans opened the first half sluggish and a defensive miscue gave up an easy goal 20 minutes into the game. The deficit sparked a Titan surge as Crested Butte took over control of possession but the back of the net eluded them as they went into halftime down 1-0.
The Titans continued to hold possession in the second half and an up tick in intensity made the difference as Prawit Durgan battled through two Weld players to drill a shot into the upper corner from 25 yards out to tie the game 1-1.
The teams finished regulation notched in a 1-1 tie and played through two scoreless overtime periods to send the game into penalty kicks. Coach Mike Martin drew up the shooting order for the Titans and the players responded perfectly. Titan goalie Ian Dethloff saved the first Weld Central penalty kick and another Weld Central shooter hit the crossbar while Jesse Reeves, Cal Fenerty, Durgan and Kaleb Schultz all buried their shots for the win.
“The team always seems to shine under the lights,” says Martin. “After a so-so effort in the first half, they came out in the second half wanting to win the game. Hustle won that game.”
The Titans earned a birth to the semi-finals on Saturday against Peak to Peak.
Peak to Peak plays a disciplined game with a lot of movement off the ball and the Titans struggled to stay focused falling behind 1-0 by halftime.
As the game wore on, the game got worse for the Titans. Peak to Peak rattled off four more goals in the second half to finish the Titans off 5-0.
“I’m unsure what happened,” says Martin. “We showed up to the game and gave little effort against a decent team. It was a game we should have been in.”
The Titans closed the tournament Saturday afternoon against Lutheran Parker. While the Titans played somewhat more inspired soccer, it still wasn’t enough. Crested Butte fell behind 1-0 by halftime and Martin made a move up front putting Dylan Curtiss in as striker in the second half to generate some positive offensive push.
The ploy paid off immediately as Curtiss chased down a high bouncing through ball to beat the keeper with a header and tie the game 1-1.
Lutheran Parker came back 10 minutes later to retake the lead and held on for the 2-1 win.
The Titans have their hands full this Friday as they host the Telluride Miners at Rainbow Field for homecoming.
“We’re just trying to get their heads back in the game and working as a unit as well as some much needed individual work,” says Martin. Telluride is not only our rival but also a consistently quality program. Last year we threw some logs on the fire when we beat them at their field so they’re going to come out really hard and I hope we, as a team, can bring a game to them.”
Kick off for Friday’s game is at 4 p.m.
