Work against Telluride JV shows promise
Enthusiasm carried over.
Performance, however … less so as the Lady Bobcats traveled Thursday, March 26, all the way to Crested Butte, but couldn’t fully replicate their promising work shown three days before upon their home pitch.
Eager to face vaunted Crested Butte Community School’s junior varsity, though well aware of its talent level, Ignacio’s varsity had walked off IHS Field on the 23rd with atypical optimism after lasting all 80 minutes against Telluride’s JV and limiting the Lady Miners to just two first-half goals in what ended up being a 6-0 loss.
“One big difference I’ve noticed, since this is my second year, so far is that last year the girls weren’t just playing against the other team; they were playing against each other,” head coach Gretchen Gruber said. “Right now I feel like we’re playing together as a team, and that’s something that I want us to focus on and continue to develop.”
“We’ve lost to (Telluride) pretty much every year, but I think that this year, even being a man down, we still had enough strength,” said sophomore co-captain Jada Davis. “We were working together, we were communicating, and we actually noticed Telluride getting frustrated – and we used that to our advantage and just went for it.”
And in the 67th minute the Lady ’Cats were rewarded with their first earned corner kick this season. Davis was given the privilege of taking the kick, but after finding junior Catori Aasland nothing more materialized as THS’ players swarmed and were able to clear the ball well away from 60th-minute goalie switch Matilda Parsons.
“I was scared,” Davis admitted. “I was like, ‘This is my first corner – who do I go to? How hard do I kick?’ You know? But my main goal was just to get it there, get it to someone I knew could handle it.”
Despite Ignacio still trailing 4-0 at the time – Telluride freshmen Ayleen Servin (in the 59th minute) and Marisol Ramirez (61st minute) had each converted breakaway shots, initially saved by IHS goalie Bella Lorenzini, into rebound goals – the Lady Miners sought extra insurance. And after Lorenzini denied Aylin Felix with a fine 1-v-1 diving stop in the 70th, Telluride got what they’d been after as freshman Gretchen Rosen – THS’ starting keeper – netted an intercepted goal kick in the 71st.
And in the 75th, freshman Zoe Cooper completed her hat trick (she’d scored THS’ first goal back in the 12th minute, and struck again in the 35th with a Felix-assisted backside chip) and ultimately secured the Lady Miners a road win.
“It is a major improvement from our first couple games,” said senior co-captain Lorenzini, who racked up an unofficial 18 saves. “We were down a player today, and almost were down two players at the beginning – one of our teammates had a meeting, and got here in the nick of time – so I’m proud of us and very proud of what we’ve done.”
“I was really glad to see today they were able to spread out a little bit more, trying to work and have someone to pass to and not just bunching up around the ball,” Gruber said. “They were playing pretty well together as a team, strengthening each other up.”
Looking ahead, Ignacio will host Del Norte on Tuesday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m. Standing 0-4 overall (0-0 2A Intermountain-South) after a 10-0 mercy-rule loss at CBCS, the Lady ’Cats were to welcome Montezuma-Cortez (1-1, 0-0 3A Intermountain) on Tuesday, March 31, but results were unavailable at press time.