No. 9-ranked Vail Mountain School soccer wins second-straight
The Gore Rangers host Crested Butte 鈥斅爐he defending 2A state champions 鈥斅爋n Saturday at 1 p.m.
Sloane Thompson/Courtesy photo
Vail Mountain School defeated Liberty Common 1-0 on Saturday to improve to 2-1-1 on the season. It was the second-straight 1-0 victory for the No. 9 Gore Rangers, who also took down Delta 1-0 at home on Sept. 10.
“I think that’s the way that we’re going to win games this year,” said coach Kevin Ives. “You know, top to bottom, (a) collective effort.”
Liberty Common finished 11-4-3 last year and was eventually ousted by state champion Colorado Academy in the 3A quarterfinals. The Eagles are off to a 2-3-1 start this season, but they’ve faced some tough competition 鈥� like 4A No. 1 Mullen in the Aug. 24 opener. Vail Mountain senior captain Drew Johnson scored the only goal in Saturday’s matchup.
“(It was) another game where I feel like we dictated the flow of the game, had the majority of the possession and the scoring chances,” Ives said. “The boys are continuing to play together, elevating the quality of play and the togetherness each game, and I could not be more proud as a coach with their ownership, with their togetherness and their willingness to grow and grind out some games.”
Vail Mountain School started the year with a tough loss on Aug. 27 to No. 3 Forge Christian (3-0-1). The Gore Rangers followed that up with a 2-2 tie to Telluride in a rematch of last year’s state quarterfinals on Sept. 7. Ives said he felt his team controlled possession in that game but struggled in the final third to put the ball in the net. They trailed 2-1 until Johnson scored on a penalty kick with 30 seconds to go.
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“It was a great game,” Ives said. “The boys battled.”
Against Delta, Vail Mountain’s Alec Uribe scored the games’ only goal on a trick play. Goalie Hunter Iverson tallied three saves for the shutout.
“We played a beautiful brand of soccer,” the coach stated. “Very unselfish, moving the ball, all 11 players working together collectively.”
Next week is important for VMS, which started the year ranked No. 1 in 2A. The host Rifle in a key league matchup at 4 p.m. on Thursday and welcome Crested Butte 鈥� the defending 2A state champions 鈥� to Vail on Saturday at 1 p.m. Rifle (3-1) is currently the No. 13-ranked squad in 3A Crested Butte (6-0-1) is No. 2 in 2A.
“We’ve got intentionally a very challenging, rigorous schedule,” Ives said. “So we are going to have to play very sound defense, move the ball together in possession and then find ways to score in the final third.”
Vail Mountain School is 4-0 against Crested Butte going back to 2015. In the Gore Rangers’ 2022 state title run, they defeated the Titans 5-3 in the semifinals. Last year, VMS won 1-0.
“We’ve had a lot of success against them in years past, but definitely a great mid-season matchup to see how two teams stack up against one another,” Ives said. “Like I said, just extremely proud of the boys, how they’re playing, how they’re rallying around one another (and) how they’re embracing the challenges.”
