GHS soccer fell to the Spartans 1-0 on Tuesday. (photo by Evan Bjornstad)
A match under the lights is where Eli Coop puts his perfect homecoming record on the line.The Gunnison soccer team took to their showdown with Salida this week with redemption in their eye. The Spartans knocked the Cowboys out of the playoffs by a 3-0 score last year. GHS won on homecoming when Coop was a freshman and tied Crested Butte last year; a draw that felt like a win given the cross-town rivalry and prowess of the Titans program. But redemption will have to wait a little longer as it was the Spartans getting a 1-0 win on Tuesday. The result was actually a positive step forward following a tough 5-0 loss to Coal Ridge on Sept. 20. The Cowboys (2-4-2, 1-1 Class 2A Western Slope) held the bigger school scoreless for 30 minutes but couldn’t sustain a consistent attack. Coop wants the Cowboys to move into the attacking third of the pitch as a cohesive unit with a sustained attack that includes everybody.“We have to build the attack as a team,” said Coop, a junior captain. “We have to find chances where we can score and we have to score most of the times when that happens. Even if a defense is better than us and we only get four solid chances, so be it, we’ve got to convert those.”For Cesar Marmolejo, a senior captain, he hears the clock ticking. It was one of the last games he’ll play in a GHS uniform under the lights. I’m ready to have fun; last homecoming week of high school,” Marmolejo said. “I’ve thought about this being my least year more when I am not playing. I think it’s insane that it’s my last year of ball. I don’t get caught up in that when we are playing though.”The Spartans (5-1) returned all but two players from last year’s squad that went 14-2-3 and lost in the semifinals of the 2A state tournament. Unlike last year, the Cowboys were on normal rest when they lined up against Salida. And while the game was more competitive than last year’s tilt, Hawkin Sather’s first-half goal for the Spartans proved to be the difference. Last year, Gunnison traveled to Colorado Springs Christian where it won its first playoff game in overtime on a Friday. After a long trip home, the Cowboys got a few hours of sleep and turned around, drove 90 minutes to Salida and played another match on Saturday. They’ll be back on normal rest for the next stretch of games as they make a short trip to Ridgway on Saturday before making a longer trip back to Manitou Springs on Monday to try and play a game that has been postponed by weather twice.With a crucial stretch of the season coming up, the Cowboys need some favorable results to improve their placement in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index where they currently sit at No. 21.“We can’t fall off a cliff if we get down one or two goals,” Coop said. “We know we are a good team. We just haven’t fully come together as a team yet. We’ve got to stay strong.” (James Nokes writes for Colorado Preps.)
GHS soccer fell to the Spartans 1-0 on Tuesday. (photo by Evan Bjornstad)
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