It’s a magical feeling for a sports team. The moment when everything finally clicks, and everyone plays to perfection as both individuals and a team. Last weekend, the Telluride U14 girls soccer team experienced the magic, playing two of their best soccer games ever.

“This last weekend, they were just fantastic,” Lois Major, co-coach with Jeff Bush, said. “It’s a shame we don’t have too many more games since they’re playing so awesome right now.”

The team placed third in the Durango Shoot Out, actually defeating the Denver team who went on to the championship. Due to a point system, the Telluride team was just short of a spot in the championship match, but in beating Denver, they proved their potential.

Equally impressive was the team’s minimal time on the field this season. With only four outdoor practices and three weekends of soccer, the Telluride team worked together and showed their ability to compete against larger city teams.

“It’s been tough on them, getting outside so few times,” Major said. “I think they’re doing so well, and they’ll continue to do well at this weekend’s tournament in Grand Junction.”

The Junction tourney will be the last games for this season’s team, a team that will have all new faces next year. Since this season’s 20-person team consists entirely of eighth graders, they’ll move on to the Telluride High School girl’s team next spring.

They’re making the most, however, of their final season as a U14 squad.

Last weekend, the Telluride U14 team played three games. Their first two games were wins, and crowd rousing soccer showings on the girls’ part.

“What a tremendous job our defense did,” Bush said. “[They played] so well that in our first game against the Arizona Flames (goalie) Molly Mitchell only touched the ball eight times — she was counting.”  

Mallory Bosse, Sonja Erickson, Lauren Yohey, Ashli Socorro and Jessi Solomon fortified the defense by continuously trapping, clearing and passing the ball up field.
Telluride’s first goal came from a Solomon corner kick. Crossing the goal, Emily Langley made contact, and knocked the ball into the opponent’s net.

For the next Telluride goal, Kulani Aplin assisted Emy Ludwig up the middle to go ahead 2-0. Then, a little later, Naomi Major made a mid-field trap, passed to Carly Ball who assisted Josephine Bush’s goal. It was the third and final goal as the game ended in a 3-0 Telluride shutout.

In game two, Telluride played Copa Fusion, a great passing team from Denver. At the start, the local squad surprised their opponents with a goal eight seconds after the opening kick off. Sprinting down the left wing, Bush broke away from her defender just as Ludwig chipped the ball her way. Bush tapped it into the Copa Fusion net, and gave Telluride an early lead.

The Fusion came back and dropped a big kick from center field into the Telluride net, tying things up at 1-1. Telluride’s defense responded, pulling together for tighter marking. The defense won nearly every ball which lead to another break away goal.
Once again, Ludwig laid the ball to Bush who put it into the top right corner of the net. It was a pretty goal, but more important, it put Telluride ahead 2-1. Socorro sealed the win with an unassisted rocket from mid-field, and a final score of 3-1.

On Sunday morning, Telluride played a second Arizona team with stronger soccer skills and faster players. At half time, Telluride trailed 3-0, although one of those goals took a lucky bounce over Mitchell’s head and another of those goals should have been called back when Mitchell got kicked in the head.

“At half time we really felt we could come back and at least get some points,” Bush said. “One goal would have put us into the championship game even with a loss since we were leading with 19 points at that point.”

Unfortunately, Telluride couldn’t bounce back and couldn’t find the net.

“We did not put our best game together for this match and lost 0-5,” said Bush.

Still, it was a successful soccer weekend for the U14 girls team, and there’s more to come. With a record of 4-3-2, the team is ready to tack on some Ws at the Grand Junction tourney this weekend.