Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs soccer team has been in pursuit of 80 solid minutes of play.

With a 2-1 victory over Fort Lupton Saturday in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs, the Sailors' season and pursuit will continue.

"(Our play) wasn't consistently good, but it was good at moments" assistant coach Danny Tebbenkamp said. "We've been stressing with these guys on doing the small things. We have to have 80 good minutes of soccer from here on out. The teams only get better and better."

A seeding committee has yet to determine whom and where the Sailors play next.

Fort Lupton came into Saturday's game relying heavily on its defense, anchored by one of the state's top-ranked goalies in Nick Delgado a sophomore who has moved from third string to starter since the beginning of the season.

Coach Jack Thorpe said his team's defense is its best offense, as the Blue Devils' opportunistic scoring attack relies heavily upon generating scores by exploiting their opponents' defense.

The Sailors' game-winning goal came near the 30-minute mark in the second half. The Blue Devils' inability to clear the zone after a Sailors corner kick left a jumble of players in the box.

Steamboat senior Gunnar Sorensen ended up with the ball out top.

Sorensen exploited the 5-foot-8 Hidalgo by nailing a shot from about 30 yards out.

"Our kids did well, but Steamboat earned it," Thorpe said. "Rob's an excellent coach."

Two coaching moves in particular made the coaching staff of Bohlmann, Tebbenkamp, John Cardillo and Stephanie Hughes look brilliant.

First, they pushed senior Kyle Nelson from midfield to forward in the first half, and Nelson netted the game's first score near the 37:00-mark.

Outnumbered, Nelson took the ball, shook off a defender and went around another before knocking the ball low and left past Hidalgo.

"It was just a finish in net," Nelson said. "There was no way I was going to lose this game."

The second move involved Sorensen.

After stuffing the Blue Devils' Isaac Sotello on what could have been the game winner, Sailors goalkeeper Kelly Carlson needed some help on defense to prevent further breakaway shots.

The Sailors moved senior Mike Holland back to defense and pushed Sorensen from defense to forward.

Tebbenkamp said this year's team is blessed to have players able to transition to different spots on the field and Holland is a prime example.

He played all three areas of the field Saturday.

Nelson, Sorensen and a handful of others mixed it up as well.

Fort Lupton received two yellow cards Saturday as the intensity and pressure were expectedly higher with the opening of postseason play.

With intensity up, now the Sailors hope to elevate their all-around game no matter who they play next.