BAYFIELD – In a game that the Bayfield High School girls soccer team had to win against Class 2A heavyweights Crested Butte, the Wolverines were missing three seniors and a key junior in Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Bayfield High School. The loss could keep the Wolverines out of the Class 3A state playoffs as Bayfield held the No. 36 RPI seed heading into Saturday’s match. The top-32 teams make the Class 3A state tournament.
Crested Butte opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Livie Nute scored after a cross came in from the right side and she finished it off. The Titans went up 2-0 inside of 10 minutes when Karina Davalos got open on the right flank and was in behind Bayfield’s defense and chipped BHS sophomore goalkeeper Jaden Cooper.
“Two goal immediately right off of the bat can be demoralizing,” said BHS head coach Jen Moore. “But, to be honest, I thought the bigger story was who we were missing. We went from a 29-girl roster to an 18-girl team today and we didn’t have any of our seniors, they chose to be at other events instead of here, and unfortunately, it will affect us not going to the playoffs. That’s extremely frustrating considering this is a team that we can hang with, especially getting that goal. It hurts us when I have one or two subs, we can’t hang for 80 minutes.”
Bayfield (7-8, 4-2 Class 3A Intermountain League) pulled one back when five minutes later, Mattie Moore found Maddie Oltmanns at the near post and she scored to make it 2-1 in the 15th minute, and while the Wolverines created chances, it remained 2-1 at halftime.
In the second half, Crested Butte (12-2-1, 10-1-1 Class 2A Region 4) added a third after a long shot from 30-yards out from Rachel Potoker took a cruel bounce off of the hands of Jaden Cooper and it bounced in.
In the 53rd minute, the Titans closed the game out after Tess Fennerty hit a free-kick from the same distance and it went into the top right far post to make it 4-1.
“We were really fighting to get that No. 4 seed to get a bye for Class 2A,” said Crested Butte head coach Julia Kidd. “We’ve got 13 seniors and we are really setting us up for the state playoffs. The team chemistry has really come together, and I think we fully expected to beat Bayfield today, honestly. That’s how we went into the game, and that’s how we played. All of the hard work in practice brings it to this moment of the final game of the regular season, so we want to continue carrying this momentum forward.”
Bayfield will find out its playoff fate when the Class 3A state championship bracket is released on Sunday.
“Now we have to sit and wait, and hope for something magical to happen,” Moore said.
The Durango High School girls soccer team got a huge lift on Saturday after it got a huge 2-0 win over Grand Junction Central in its final game of the regular season at DHS.
In a game that also featured playoff seeding implications, the Demons got off on the wrong foot when they conceded an early penalty kick in the third minute of the match. Junior Emily Badgley stepped up and delivered for tor Durango ad made the save to keep it scoreless.
The penalty kick save invigorated Durango’s offense, as Kylie Phipps scored her second goal in as many games in the 20th minute after she slotted home a ball that was delivered in from Kayla Rubenstein’s corner kick. It remained 1-0 at halftime.
“I though they did what they had to do to get the job done today,” said DHS head coach Jonathan Berzins. “It was a warm day, and we weren’t clicking on all cylinders in that first half, but we still figured out a way to take the lead and not the early penalty get to us. Good teams find out how to get wins even on days where your play is just a little off, and we found a way to win.”
In the 62nd minute, Sasha Kozak was on the receiving end of an expertly-orchestrated counterattack, and she received the ball at the top of the 18-yard box, took a touch and put it away to make it 2-0.
Berzins sad his team stepped up to the challenge knowing that his side could host a first-round playoff game in the state tournament next week.
“We’re super excited about it,” Berzins said. “Our goal at the beginning of the year was to not only get to the playoffs, but hopefully host a game. We’re in the drivers seat right now, and hopefully, power points will go our way and we’ll stay in the top-16, and Wednesday somebody is coming to us.”
According to the latest CHSAANow.com RPI poll, Durango held the No. 16 spot, but it could shift depending on Saturday’s remaining results.
The full state playoff soccer championship field will be announced on Sunday.
bploen@durangoherald.com
