The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Home game Thursday, March 26 at 5 p.m.
By Than Acuff
After struggling to score and ultimately tying Buena Vista 0-0 on Tuesday, March 17, the Crested Butte Titans girls’ soccer team found their finishing touch in their first home game of the season on the new turf on Friday, March 20 to take down the Delta Panthers 3-1.
Buena Vista provides a quality non-league opponent for the Titans and after being held to a 0-0 tie with Aspen just three days prior, Crested Butte was looking to get back on the scoring track. Unfortunately, while they did manage to create some chances, those chances never reached the back of the Buena Vista net. That said, the Titans defense continued to do their jobs holding Buena Vista to a couple of random shots from distance that goalie Haley Roberts collected without much issue.
“I thought we played really well defensively, and we created three major chances all from wide areas which is what we talked about before the game,” says head coach Tom Lewis. “I was happy to walk away from our third game on the road without conceding a goal.”
The coaching staff used the two days between games to continue their efforts tactically as well as mix in a reminder for their players to help ease their minds.
“We felt the stress and pressure of not scoring was weighing them down, so we spoke with them on Wednesday about having fun and enjoying it,” says Lewis.
The mind shift had an immediate effect on Friday playing before a big home crowd as Nora Thomes got free from 25 yards out and fired a shot past the Delta goalie for an early 1-0 Titans’ lead.
“You could see they were having fun, and that goal really set the half up for a lot of success,” says Lewis.
Crested Butte continued to maintain a majority of the possession as they searched for gaps in the Delta defense. And when those didn’t occur, the Titans dropped the ball back to their defense to see if they could create some openings up field that way.
“We knew they wanted to chase people down and press the ball and we did a great job of pulling Delta out,” says Lewis.
Their efforts opened some room for Calla Fenlon as she took a pass just outside the 18-yard box and cut back to her left to rifle a shot over the Delta keeper for a 2-0 lead. Four minutes later Kalyn Buckel dropped a direct kick from 35 yards out in front of the keeper and when the Delta goalie mishandled the ball, it trickled through for a third Titans’ goal and a 3-0 lead at halftime.
The Panthers did eventually score on a set piece in the second half but that was the only chance they got. Meanwhile, the Titans continued their efforts to look for gaps to create additional scoring chances but came up empty, yet the Titans defense continued their lock down ways to finish off the 3-1 win.
“I wasn’t that happy with the second half after the game but looking back I think we were just tired from all of the excitement playing in front of the home crowd,” says Lewis. “But, at the end of the day, the girls won.”
The Titans remain at home this week as they host the Ridgway Demons on Thursday, March 26 at 5 p.m. and then hit the road to take on Loveland Classical on Saturday, March 28.
“We just want to continue being strong in the back and remain focused and continue to be more clinical on offense like we were against Delta,” says Lewis.
