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Gore Rangers soccer allows goal(s); still wins

LITTLETON — Vail Mountain School soccer finally allowed a goal this season. In fact, Front Range Christian scored twice on the Gore Rangers on Wednesday.

But as the Vail Mountain School math department teaches its students six is more than two, so it still worked out for the Gore Rangers in a win over the Falcons on Wednesday in a matchup of teams who were in the 2A Final Four last spring.

“I think the girls would agree that we played a worthy opponent,” Vail Mountain School coach Bob Bandoni said. “The pace of the game was faster. We struggled a little to unbalance their defense and we saw something we don’t normally see with three straight-up forwards in their attack.”



This is all good for the school, which moved to 8-0. The Gore Rangers need to see speed and have their defense challenged. That unit responded and shut down the Falcons after two early goals.

And Vail Mountain School can still score a bunch, as evidenced by two from Sammy Gish, and one each from Tess Johnson, Emma Hall, Olivia Giaccio and Maddie Cooper.

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Next up for the Gore Rangers is a trip to Rangely. Bandoni had no comment regarding this bubbling berg after the “The Great Paonia Incident of 2003.”

Glenwood lax stuns VMS

And the Mountain Conference convulsed again.

Glenwood Springs lacrosse delivered a huge upset, knocking off the Vail Mountain School, 13-11, on Wednesday, down in the Springs.

Just a little more than a week after Vail Mountain School pulled off a shocker against Battle Mountain, the Gore Rangers fell victim to the upset.

“I think as a young program, we started looking ahead,” Vail Mountain School coach Matt Felser said. “It’s obvious you can’t do that. That said, Glenwood has developed its program and played harder than us. They deserved to win.”

Griffin O’Connell had six goals, while Dylan Hardenbergh had a hat trick and Luke Verratti scored twice. But ground balls, or a lack of possession of them, were the Gore Rangers’ undoing.

Vail Mountain School’s loss is Battle Mountain’s gain when it comes to Mountain Conference’s Northern Division. Please note that a league game only refers to matches within the division — Battle Mountain, Eagle Valley, Vail Mountain, Summit County, Steamboat Springs and Glenwood Springs. Games against the South — Aspen, Montrose, Fruita Monument, Grand Junction, Durango and Telluride only matter when the two divisions meet up in May crossover games.

The Huskies are 3-1 in the North, followed by Steamboat (2-1 and scheduled to play Summit on Wednesday). With the loss, Vail Mountain School dropped to 2-2. (According to maxpreps.com, Vail Mountain School’s 11-0 win against Eagle Valley was a nonleague game. The league game is May 5 in Gypsum.)

As a result, Battle Mountain now has the inside track to the division title by virtue of its win at Steamboat last month and the berth in the Mountain Conference title game against the South champion, which is Aspen or Fruita Monument right now.

Of course, the Huskies need to beat Glenwood Springs on May 2, and predicting results this spring has been a dangerous concept, but there had to be joyous whoop at Battle Mountain on Wednesday after Vail Mountain School’s defeat.

The Gore Rangers are at Aspen on Friday.

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


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