The education of Bayfield’s young boys soccer team will continue all season.
BHS experienced the highs and the lows the sport has to offer last week in a 4-1 win against Alamosa and an 8-0 loss against Aztec.
BHS will return to Wolverine Country stadium and league play at 4 p.m. Friday against Ridgway.
“There is still a lot of confidence. There’s no doubt that they have belief that they can play with anyone,” BHS head coach Dave Foster said. “The first 15 minutes with Aztec, we outplayed them. After their second goal, we got deflated.”
Most of the Wolverines’ confidence came from their triumph against Alamosa – their first win in over a year – as well as their consistent goal scoring this season.
BHS (1-4) scored in every game except its most recent one against Aztec.
“They’re confident in their ability to score goals,” Foster said. “They’re young. They want to learn and get better. After (Thursday’s) practice, I’m feeling a lot of confidence, especially because we’re getting back to a league game that means a lot.”
Ridgway has split its two games this season, defeating a non-varsity opponent 2-0 and losing to Montezuma-Cortez 6-2.
Four different players have scored the Demons’ four goals.
“We know that Ridgway is probably going to play the ball over the top,” Foster said. “We need to hold our line and be patient in the back, not dive in and make poor choices with the ball. We can play smarter than Ridgway if we are just patient.”
BHS freshman Grant Pierce currently is leading BHS in goals with four, while fellow freshman Colton Fine has two.
BHS senior Ben Young will start in goal after it was revealed by a magnetic resonance image that freshman Dillon Hufnagel has a torn rotator cuff.
“Dillon Hufnagel is a great goalie, but we can’t put him in with the injury,” Foster said.
Young has made 21 saves so far this season.
In the field, Foster wants his team to focus on confidence and decision-making.
“If we do make a mistake, it’s how we recover from that mistake,” he said. “We know, in the game of soccer, we will make mistakes. It’s the players that recover and rebound from the mistakes that they make (that succeed). What I’ve been telling been telling the boys is make sure we make good decisions with the ball and keep that confidence.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
If you go
Who: Ridgway at Bayfield
What: boys high school soccer
When: 4 p.m.
Where: Wolverine Country Stadium
