The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Crushed from the east and the west
In theory, the Crested Butte Kickers coed adult soccer team was poised for a breakout performance this past weekend in their home tournament. Unfortunately, that theory remained just that, a theory, as the Kickers suffered three losses over the weekend to fall short of pre-tournament expectations.
Granted, the cards were stacked against them as five teams from the Front Range, all of which spend a substantial amount of time playing in leagues for most of the year, made the trip to the tournament.
Still, with an influx of talent of all ages on the Kickers squad, potential was huge. Among the usual suspects of talent: your Matt Schmalz, your Mike Eatons, your Perkins, Heather Duryea, Drew Canale, Ian Elder, Lauren Alkire and Molly Erickson, the Kickers also had some fresh talent in Juice, Austin Ross, Garrett McCaffety, Ryan Sullivan, Matt Spydell and Cole Britton.
Two days prior to the tournament, they also found former LSU Tiger and visiting Texan Margaret Wright and keeper Justin Fishback, who spent his formative years in the New Mexico leagues and is the only high school goalkeeper to record an assist in the state.
They had a dubious tournament opener on Saturday morning, facing a young and fast team out of Colorado Springs.
The Kickers have been preparing for tournament play with pick-up soccer and several small-sided games and the training proved worthy as they opened the game stringing together a number of short-passing sequences to move the ball up-field.
But their lack of full-field training showed as well, as the Kickers continually stalled in the offensive third of the field.
Colorado Springs took advantage of the situation, counter-attacking with the long ball, and it paid off as they scored 20 minutes into the game.
Eight minutes later Colorado Springs struck again as they took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
An unfortunate deflection off a shot put Colorado Springs on top 3-0 midway through the second half and they packed their defense to hold on for the win.
The Kickers regrouped and refueled for their second match of the day, seeking sustenance in a variety of ways. While some chowed power bars and chugged water, other Kickers looked to chocolate cake to re-up, while one Kicker had his Newcastle tucked into his bag awaiting a celebratory opening.
With Fishback off to work, the Kickers would call on birthday girl Molly Keating to step in net. Keating was more than willing to, unaware of what lay ahead, Denver Second Hand. Second Hand proved to be the stand-out squad of the tournament, bringing a talent level not seen since the Air Force Academy sent a training squad to the Crested Butte tournament years ago. They ran roughshod over every team in their way and would eventually win the tournament championship game 5-0.
For starters, Second Hand had what appeared to be twin 6’3” Norwegian giants set up as strikers. Add in a midfield crew of quick feet and deft touch and center backs that rival the size of their strikers, all backed by a 6’2” keeper and it was a rough team to meet in a mountain town tournament.
Never ones to back down though, the Kickers stayed in the game. Second Hand struck early, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes of play but the Kickers rallied with their patented short-passing attack to open some chances on net. Dusty Perkins came up out of the back line to challenge a ball, win it and fire a shot just wide, stunning the Second Hand squad.
Hustle, the defense of Jeff Kother, John Barney and Dusty, some covert grabbing by Darcie Perkins and outstanding goalkeeping by Keating kept Second Hand in check the remainder of the game. The Kickers would peak that day in the second half with possession-style play but the net would elude them as they eventually fell 2-0.
The Kickers then looked west for success as they faced Grand Junction Sunday morning. The two teams have played each other in tournaments for the past 20 years with the Kickers winning their last meeting in a tournament in Telluride.
Crested Butte looked to carry their momentum off the gutsy effort against Second Hand into their game against Grand Junction and finish the weekend with a win.
That plan was dashed just three minutes into the game as Grand Junction found the Kickers defense flat and slipped a pass through for a 1-0 lead.
The Kickers recovered to take control of the game and heavy pressure up-top provided Crested Butte their first goal of the weekend when McCaffety stripped a defender of the ball and chipped the goalie to tie the game 1-1.
Grand Junction got the last word in the first half, as they scored off a direct kick from 45 yards out to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
The Kickers would dominate play in the second half but their shots flew wide of the net or off the post. Meanwhile, Grand Junction packed it in on defense and capitalized on two of three chances to finish off the Kickers 4-1.
The Crested Butte Kickers will return to training for the next month, and by that I mean playing pick-up in the park, as they prepare for the final tournament of the summer season in Telluride in August.
