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Proving themselves

Sailors avenge only loss

John F. Russell

The bad passes and the missed shots that accompanied a 2-1 loss to Moffat County less than a month ago fueled the Steamboat Springs boys soccer team’s efforts Tuesday night at Dudley Field.

But after 80 minutes of play Tuesday, those weaknesses seemed to be a distant memory for the Sailors who had played one of their best games of the year en route to a 6-2 win over the only team that has beaten them this season.

“We wanted to prove what we could do after losing early on,” Steamboat’s Daniel Barney said. “We didn’t play well in that first game … but this game, we got a good rhythm. We were holding onto the ball, and we hit our passes.”



It didn’t take Steamboat long to set the tone for the rematch.

Barney split a pair of Moffat County defenders with a pass up the middle 13 minutes into the game to set up Harry Packer for the first score.



“We were getting those through balls and scoring goals early, and it worked all day,” said Barney, who had three assists in the game.

Packer got the Sailors rolling with the early goal, but it was teammate Devin Borvansky who made the statement.

Five minutes after the first score, Packer set Borvansky up for the first of his three goals on the afternoon. It was a big day for the Steamboat senior who said he missed a shot at a wide-open goal that could have beaten the Bulldogs in the teams’ first meeting Sept. 4 in Craig.

“I feel much better,” Borvansky said. “I missed a wide-open net in the first game, so getting the hat trick today made me feel a lot better.”

Borvansky and teammate Alec Nelson both added goals to the Steamboat total to give the Sailors a 4-1 advantage at the half.

Moffat County’s only score of the first half came when Marcos Quezada headed a Cory Bergquist corner kick past Steamboat goalkeeper Andy Comeau.

“I told them at the half, if Steamboat can score four goals in the first half that we could score four goals in the second,” Moffat County coach Mick Havrilla said. “We came back on the field with the intention of scoring a winner.”

The Bulldogs cut the Steamboat lead to 4-2 early in the second half when Marcos Quezada scored his second goal. Hugo Quezada provided the assist.

But a few minutes later, Borvansky collected his third goal of the game and ended any hopes of the comeback.

“I really thought we were going to turn things around,” Havrilla said. “But the one goal Borvansky scored really took the wind out of our sails. Otherwise we were going to come back and at least make it a one-goal game.”

The final score of the game came when the Bulldogs accidentally knocked the ball into the back of their own net with about 10 minutes to play.

The win improved Steamboat’s league record to 7-1 (10-1 overall) and sets up a showdown with Rifle, which has a record of 7-1 (8-3), for the league lead Thursday night in Rifle. Moffat County falls to 3-6 in league and 4-8 overall.


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