BAYFIELD – The four Bayfield High School boys soccer seniors honored in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Crested Butte laid a foundation for the program’s future success.
They would have liked to leave Wolverine Country Stadium with a win, but an even second half with one of the best teams in their league will have to do.
“It would have been nice to end on a high note, but it was fun,” said BHS senior Michael Voss, son of Debby and Mike Voss. “I had a good time.”
BHS junior Viktor Sandvik gave the seniors a bit of a going-away present in the 55th minute. He was taken down near the edge of the box, arguably in penalty-kick territory.
The referee only awarded the direct free kick, but that was enough for Sandvik.
He blasted a shot into the upper left corner to give the Wolverines a goal in their ninth game this season.
“It was an open goal opportunity that I could have scored, so that was mean,” said Sandvik, an exchange student from Norway. “Coach said, ‘Shoot hard; don’t place it,’ so I kind of did both.”
That goal paired with a 47th-minute Crested Butte goal evened the second half at 1-1 after the Wolverines trailed 4-0 at the half.
BHS (1-10, 1-8 Region 5) put six shots on frame in the second half compared to four for the Titans and outshot them 8-5 overall after halftime.
“There’s no doubt we’re more of a second-half team. I think there was a little bit of pride that we wanted to represent,” BHS head coach Dave Foster said. “We wanted to represent our seniors.”
Bailey Ludwig and Ben Young also were honored on senior day in addition to Voss. Zak Larson, a BHS senior, was unable to attend Saturday’s game.
Young made 12 saves in the game for BHS.
The first half did not go nearly as smoothly for the Wolverines.
Crested Butte (8-2, 8-1 Region 5) scored in the third minute and was up 3-0 after the first half hour.
“Honestly, they were running hard, and Bayfield was actually able to match our hustle. They actually outhustled us the first 10 to 15 (minutes),” Crested Butte head coach Than Acuff said. “Then we calmed down, the kids started communicating, and we were able to work our way out of trouble.”
Though their home schedule may be over, the Wolverines still have four more games to play on the road.
They’ll visit the Durango High School junior varsity team at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Riverview Sports Complex before closing out with league games at Ridgway, Telluride and Pagosa Springs, respectively.
“I think we still have a lot to play for,” Sandvik said. “We want to win.”
BHS also is looking beyond this season, as well.
The Wolverines started seven freshmen in the game, as they have most of have this season, and the future looks bright.
“Overall, we’re just an inexperienced team,” Foster said. “Everybody is talking about how we can build off even a 5-1 loss.”
kgrabowski@ durangoherald.com
Senior Day
Bayfield High School
Boys Soccer
Senior Day
Zak Larson
Bailey Ludwig
Michael Voss
Ben Young
Durango Herald
