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Vail Mountain soccer blanks Roaring Fork

Battle Mountain's Taylor Keep reaches high to spike the ball into Hayden's court during the Queen of the Mountain Tournament on Saturday. Battle Mountain went 3-1, including a three-set win, 25-23, 25-22, 25-21, over Vail Christian to avenge an early-season loss to the Saints.
Townsend Bessent | Townsend@vaildaily.com |

CARBONDALE — That’s a big one, folks.

The Vail Mountain School soccer team took another step toward a 3A Slope title on Saturday, blanking Roaring Fork, 4-0, on Saturday in Carbondale.

Not that the Gore Rangers needed reminding, but the Rams won the Slope last year, beating VMS twice. And, in their non-league game in East Vail earlier this season, VMS squandered a 2-0 lead to the Rams before winning in overtime.



The Gore Rangers needed no drama this time.

VMS played well during the first half, but were stymied by three by saves from Rams keeper Colin O’Gorman. During the final 40 minutes, the Gore Rangers broke down the Rams, switching the ball to find the openings when Roaring Fork overcommitted.

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Michael Resnick started it with a throw-in to Liam Hurley. He settled the ball at the top of the box and sent it home.

In one of those moves which makes the head man look smarter than he is — we kid because we care — coach Pete Petrovski had subbed in Nathan Rouaud for Eric Zdechlik at left midfielder. Rouaud’s first touch was a laser for a 2-0 lead.

Roaring Fork had to go forward late and VMS took advantage.

Peter Ferraro to J.P. Elmblad made it 3-0. Zdechlik to Dylan Cunningham made the ride back merrier.

Even though the Gore Rangers are sporting a fancy 11-1 overall record and a 5-0 Slope mark, please don’t break out the orange quite yet. The goal is the league title and there’s still a lot of soccer to go.

VMS has a road week ahead starting with a delightful trip to Craig on Tuesday for Moffat County before heading back down Highway 82 for the Colorado Rocky Mountain School on Thursday. There’s also the little matter of Basalt, who comes to town on Oct. 20. The Longhorns are 5-0-1 in the Slope, so nothing is in the bag yet.

“It’s not hard to motivate these guys,” Petrovski said. “We want to win the league title. That was one of our goals at the beginning of the season. We’ve only allowed one goal in league this season because everyone is committed to playing defense, whether it’s in the final third, the middle third or our own end.”


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