Archive for Friday, May 1, 2009

Steamboat Springs High School senior Elise Anderson tries to work the ball up the field on Thursday as the Sailors beat Moffat County High School, 7-0. The squad returns to action today with a game against Glenwood Springs.

Photo by Hans Hallgren

Steamboat Springs High School senior Elise Anderson tries to work the ball up the field on Thursday as the Sailors beat Moffat County High School, 7-0. The squad returns to action today with a game against Glenwood Springs.

Sailors girls soccer overpowers Bulldogs, 7-0

Steamboat travels to Glenwood Springs today to face Demons

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— The result was the same for the Moffat County High School girls soccer team. Matched up against Steamboat Springs, the Bulldogs struggled to keep things close and lost, 7-0.

Still, the squad was able to take some positives from Thursday night's home loss, which wrapped up the team's one-win regular season.

"I'm really proud of them," Bulldogs coach Nicole Dolence said about her team. "I don't think the final score reflects how well we played."

Steamboat, too, found plenty to take from the win, including another Western Slope League triumph in the team's now-completed, undefeated run through the league. The message the Sailors left with wasn't as positive, however.

"We were struggling to really find a rhythm within our game," Steamboat coach Rob Bohlmann said. "We have to learn that time and space with the ball is limited. We have to do a much better job with our speed of play. We need to play quicker and force the ball more."

Moffat County, 1-11-1 on the season, took pride in a strong first half. When the teams last met, on a cold and windy field in Steamboat, the Sailors blew the game open early and took a 6-0 lead into halftime.

Thursday, the Bulldogs kept things closer, at least early. Steamboat's efficient passing and constant pressure netted early goals from Emi Birch, Kiersten Henry and Mandi DeVos, but the score was 3-0 at half. Steamboat, now 10-0 in the league and 11-3 overall, added just one more goal through the first part of the second half.

"The girls started out the game really well, and that's something we usually struggle with," Dolence said. "The girls were fired up at the start. It wasn't that our defense fell apart in the second half, but we got caught out of position a few times."

The Sailors missed on a few opportunities to slam the door midway through the second half - a great save kept one shot out and another slammed off the goal and bounced away.

Still, Moffat County never threatened to come back, and Steamboat expanded on its lead as Henry scored two goals in the waning minutes.

She finished with three goals, while DeVos had two and Joanie Bier scored one.

"We just were focusing on getting as many shots as we could," DeVos said. "We need to work on composure in front of the box and on finishing every opportunity."

The win wrapped up Steamboat's league slate, and, the team hopes, set it up for an important game today in Glenwood Springs.

The showdown against the Demons won't change the league standings. Steamboat won the teams' league matchup earlier this season, 4-1.

A win could, however, give the Sailors a boost in the state tournament seeding process, the results of which will be released Sunday.

"We hope that playing (Thursday) on a tight field against a scrappy team, it will help us as we go to Glenwood," Bohlmann said. "That will be a similar environment. What's at stake is more bonus points for the state tournament seeding."

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