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All-league soccer awards dotted with local athletes

Eagle Valley's Mariel Gutierrez spent the spring terrorizing the 4A Western Slope and is that league's Player of the Year.
Daily file photo |

Soccer All-league Awards

Coach of the Year (4A): Stephen Baxter, Eagle Valley

Coach of the Year (3A): Bob Bandoni, Vail Mountain

Western Slope Player of the Year (4A): Mariel Gutierrez, Eagle Valley

Western Slope Player of the Year (3A): Tess Johnson, Vail Mountain

4A Western Slope

All-league

Logan Nash, Battle Mountain

Acacia Ortiz. Battle Mountain

Emily Cope, Battle Mountain,

Mariel Gutierrez, Eagle Valley

Camilla Petterson, Eagle Valley

Honorable mention

Rose Sandell, Eagle Valley

Jessie Adams, Eagle Valley

Brennecke Gale, Eagle Valley

Morgan Croke, Battle Mountain

Molly Phannestiel, Battle Mountain

A.J. Davies, Battle Mountain.

3A Western Slope

All-league

Tess Johnson, Vail Mountain

Kristen Vossler, Vail Mountain

Emma Hall, Vail Mountain

Olivia Manula, Vail Mountain

Jessie Raitt, Vail Christian

Honorable mention

Sydney Sappenfield, Vail Mountain

Annie Blakslee, Vail Mountain

Olivia Giacco, Vail Mountain

Maddie Donovan, Vail Mountain

Keelin Robinson, Vail Christian

It just might have been a pretty good girls soccer season locally.

That is the impression when glancing at the postseason awards for the 4A or 3A Western Slope.

Good coaches? Check.



Outstanding players? Check.

A phone book’s worth of all-leaguers? Check.

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Coach(es) of the Year

Eagle Valley soccer has long been an afterthought in the spring. Led by coach Stephen Baxter, the Devils changed all that in 2015. Eagle Valley went from 7-8 overall and 3-7 in the Slope to 12-4 and 9-3.

That turnaround included the program’s first berth in the postseason since the school moved up to 4A 10 years ago, and, ergo, Baxter is a very well-deserved selection for the league’s Coach of the Year.

All the Vail Mountain School did was win a league title for the first time since 1990. Rumor has it that the Gore Rangers won the 2A state title, however, the voting for these awards was taken before the playoffs. Nonetheless, VMS swept through the combo 3A/2A league with a 10-0 mark.

And, as such, Bob Bandoni, the Prince of Paonia, is your highly esteemed 3A Slope Coach of the Year.

Player(s) of the Year

Coaches who receive these honors generally defer to their players. Coaches are generally a whole lot smarter when they have talented teams, and that was the case for Baxter and Bandoni.

Eagle Valley’s Mariel Gutierrez finished the season with a mere 37 goals and 10 assists. With those staggering numbers, the senior won the 4A Slope Player of the year. According to maxpreps.com, Gutierrez led 4A in both goals and total points (goals and assists combined).

Gutierrez will continue playing at the University of Northern Colorado later this fall.

VMS’ Tess Johnson isn’t going anywhere. The freshman, who also made the U.S. Freestyle Skiing Team, is the 3A Slope Player of the Year. The reason that Gutierrez’s state-leading status was qualified was that not all teams report individual stats to maxpreps.com.

The Gore Rangers do not, and, as such, Johnson finished the season with only two goals. She probably had a few more than that.

Fantasy soccer?

If one is interested in Draft Kings, and the like, one could have a very good time just picking local players.

Although most coaches would not use three strikers in a regular game, one couldn’t go wrong with Gutierrez, Johnson and Battle Mountain’s Logan Nash.

All Nash did was score a school record 31 goals and score 70 points, both second in 4A behind Gutierrez. Need assists? OK, pick the Huskies’ Acacia Ortiz, No. 2 in 4A with 18. Miss Ortiz will be playing soccer at the Colorado School of Mines in the fall, while Nash is off to the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Emily Cope’s a darn good pick, too, for fantasy soccer. As always we insert the reminder, that coaches cannot vote for their own players. On the other hand, Cope the player had 14 goals and nine assists, so coach David Cope wouldn’t have had to say anything when the coaches met for the vote.

If there is a beef — and there always is when it comes to all-league voting — it’s that Battle Mountain’s Morgan Croke was honorable mention and not first team. Part of the Gan-Gan twins with Nash, Croke was an offensive force with 11 goals and eight assists.

Oh, yes, the Saints

There is a tendency to overlook Vail Christian soccer with all the feats of Vail Mountain, Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley. Do remember the Saints went from 0-for-2014 to 4-7 this spring.

With the improvement, Vail Christian actually had more than a token all-league selection. Freshman Jessie Raitt made her second all-league team as a first team selection. (She did the same in basketball during the winter.) Keelin Robinson wrapped her senior year as an honorable mention.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.


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