Gore Rangers soccer blanks Basalt; C.A. today
BASALT — This is a good news, bad news, good news thing for Vail Mountain School soccer.
The good news is that the Gore Rangers blanked Basalt, 3-0, on Tuesday to complete their run through the 3A Slope at 7-1. The bad news is that Roaring Fork edged Coal Ridge, 2-1, also on Tuesday.
The Rams won the 3A Slope with that victory. The upside is that VMS was a long shot for the league title had Coal Ridge beat Roaring Fork — goals-against in league was the tiebreaker and that wasn’t favorable. The Gore Rangers will go into the postseason as the No. 2 team from the Slope. The seeding comes out on Sunday at chsaa.org.
Clay Kirwood scored the first two on helpers from Trevor Sheldon. Kevin Garcia fed Sheldon for the third.
VMS is 10-3-1 overall, heading into today’s regular-season finale at Colorado Academy. (That is a recent addition to the schedule.) It’s also another chance for the Gore Rangers to enhance their playoff resume. Colorado Academy is in second place in its league behind Kent Denver and ahead of Faith Christian, all three teams from that league being 3A soccer royalty on the Front Range.
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Since VMS is playing Colorado Academy, we hereby invoke the spirits of Oscar Alcantar, Danny Mackintosh and Wade Cheatham.
To answer the question, “Where does VMS play next week?” Well that’s a good question. According to the CHSAA bulletin, “The top 8 3A teams by committee vote will host the first and second playoff rounds at central location sites.” That means that you don’t have to be a league champion to host. In fact, Coal Ridge and Roaring Fork, the first- and second-place teams from the Slope in 2013, were both hosts last year. Past performance does not guarantee future results, however.
This week’s CHSAA poll, which is non-binding, but usually a part of the conversation come this time of year, had Coal Ridge No. 3, Roaring Fork No. 4, Colorado Academy No. 6 and VMS No. 10 before Tuesday’s action. Coal Ridge probably falls after its loss to Roaring Fork. VMS fans will be quick to point out that the Gore Rangers beat said Titans earlier this season, and beating No. 6 C.A. today probably wouldn’t hurt the locals’ chances of hosting.
Stay tuned.
EAST VAIL
Gore Rangers volleyball falls on Senior Night
That’s not how Senior Night is meant to go.
Soroco defeated the Vail Mountain School, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17, on Tuesday night in East Vail.
That is not how the Gore Rangers wanted to fete their two seniors, Elle Dice and Georgia Hintz.
“I think both girls really came at us in different directions,” VMS coach Mike Garvey said. “Georgia’s been with us for four years. Elle came over as a transfer and joined the team halfway through the season. She gave us a boost midway through the season. They’ll both be big going into the pig-tail match.”
VMS, according to Garvey, is all but locked into a pig-tail match to qualify for the district tournament. VMS will be at Hotchkiss on Tuesday. In the meantime, the Gore Rangers finish the regular season at West Grand on Friday.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.
