Keeping it in the family: Huskies beat Devils
Anybody have an older sibling?
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EDWARDS — Battle Mountain’s Callie Borg took a soccer ball to the face with her team leading Eagle Valley, 6-0, and on its way to an easy 7-0 victory. Happy Senior Night.
Borg left the field, most happy that no blood got on her uniform. Borg got some nose plugs from trainer Brooke Rey and then started furiously wiping the blood off her skin.
Most players wouldn’t concern themselves in getting back into a meaningless rout.
“It’s soccer,” Borg said afterward. “I just want to play.”
Yes, it’s Borg’s senior year and she wants to be there. It’s also a family thing. Before Callie played, her older brother, Jackson, was in net for the Huskies. Isabelle, her younger sister, is a freshman on the squad.
The Borgs aren’t the only one. Bailey Murray (Brogan), Elizabeth Keiser (Drew and Josh), Metzli Solis (Paola), Monica Duran (Karely), Sage Nash (Logan) and Cassandra Ledezma (cousin to the Ledezma boys) all have had family precede them in Huskies soccer.
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This doesn’t include the Caballero sisters, both Gabby and Alessandra, who are on the roster. And yes, Gabby fed Alessandra on Thursday. It also doesn’t include the goaltending coach, Jack Skidmore, Class of 2016, who’s the elder brother for Maggie, Mallory and Cooper.
“What I love about this program was the families, seeing groups come through,” Huskies coach David Cope said. “Being able to coach siblings is rewarding. You see them on the sidelines as little kids. Then you see them come through. We’ve had some real luck with families and some of them were out there tonight.”
Growing up Battle Mountain
Yes, it seems genetically encoded. When Cope moved to the county to start teaching skiing, which lead to teaching at Battle Mountain as well as coaching the soccer teams, the future head man played rec soccer with Adam Borg, the patriarch of the family. Now Cope’s coaching the Borg kids.
“We grew up going to Battle Mountain games, even before Jackson was a player on the team,” Callie said. “It’s a family thing. My whole entire family plays soccer.”
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Ergo, a bloody nose isn’t keeping her out of a game.
While the Borgs seem to be moving up the field — Jackson was a keeper; Callie is a holding midfielder and Isabelle seems destined for striker — the Nashes are all over the place.
Logan Nash is the all-time leading goal-scorer in the program’s history. Naturally, Sage Nash is a defender without a goal on her stat line.
And sage is totally fine with her role on defense.
“I just started there and stayed there,” Sage said. “Logan played up top. I didn’t have a goal this season. I left that up to my sister. She’s the goal scorer and I’m the goal stopper.”
Despite different approaches to the soccer pitch, Sage is attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth just like Logan.
Meanwhile, the Caballeros enjoy causing havoc. Gabby started Thursday’s onslaught with Liz Keiser scoring twice and Molly Reeder also finding the back of the net. In the middle of that was a Caballero sister special.
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“I love getting to play with her, the competitiveness going back and forth, seeing who can score more goals,” Gabby said. “It’s just a fun thing.”
Next up
Malia Zeeb and Cassandra Ledezma rounded out the scoring for the Huskies (4-2-2). Steamboat Springs clinched the league title Thursday night, so baring a computer miracle, Battle Mountain will not make the postseason.
The Huskies will be at Summit on Saturday. Meanwhile, Eagle Valley (1-7) hosts Steamboat Springs on Saturday.
