Vail Mountain School soccer downs Dawson, 4-0
DENVER — And that’s a wrap … for now.
Vail Mountain School girls soccer finished the regular season with an emphatic 4-0 win at the Dawson School on Friday afternoon.
VMS finished the regular season with a sparkling 13-1 record, and now we apologize for the following mundane discussion of playoff seeding, which is not pertinent to synergy or the culture of the Mountain School being transferred to the arena of competition.
The 2A Gore Rangers just finished a tremendous season, winning the 3A Slope and competing tremendously well against the elite of 2A in nonconference play.
In the non-binding CHSAA Poll, VMS is ranked No. 2, behind only Front Range Christian, whom the Gore Rangers defeated earlier this season, and ahead of No. 3 Denver Christian, to whom the Gore Rangers lost earlier this season. Please do not look for logic, people. Dawson was No. 4 in the poll, so that’s an important win.
Support Local Journalism
In the maxpreps.com poll, which is a consideration for seeding, VMS is 3-1 against the top-six teams in 2A (add the win over the Colorado Rocky Mountain School to the above victories).
Only Front Range Christian finished the 2A regular season with more points (40) than VMS (39) and the Falcons played one more game than the Gore Rangers did.
This is important because the top-four seeded teams of the 12 in the 2A playoffs — VMS clinched a spot long ago by having the most points in Region 2 — get a bye through the first round on Tuesday. Whatever superstition VMS fans have, do it now, but the Gore Rangers should be in that top four and be home for the second round of the playoffs at the Fenway Park of the soccer world, Bandoni Alumni Field, on Friday.
And now we return you to your regularly scheduled Bandonese.
Freshman Emma Hall staked the Gore Rangers to a 3-0 lead in the first half with a hat trick. And sophomore Sydney Sappenfield got her first of the year.
“It’s been a focal point for our attack to get our distributing midfield to get high enough on the field to be a scoring threat,” VMS coach Bob Bandoni said.
Another reason the Gore Rangers wouldn’t mind the bye is that Friday was VMS’ fourth game in seven days and a rest would be nice.
“The teams we played were progressively stronger and a more physical test for our young team,” Bandoni said. “We’re asking a lot of our players and they are responding. Not only are they getting the results, but they are developing playing more of our style and creating more options. It’s very gratifying.”
The 2A bracket comes out on Sunday on chsaa.org.
LACROSSE
VMS lax falls to Demons
DURANGO — Welcome to the bubble.
Vail Mountain School lacrosse fell to Durango, 11-7, during Mountain Conference crossovers on Friday.
“They were fired up for revenge and, sure enough, they got it,” VMS coach Matt Felser said. “We were sluggish (after the bus ride). They had a good game plan.”
Luke Verratti had three goals, while Clay Kirwood, Dylan Hardenbergh, Robby Grubber and Nick Whiteford also scored.
VMS finishes the regular season at 9-4, a tremendous season for the first-year varsity program, but not as nice as 10-3 would look in the eyes of the playoff-seeding committee. The state tournament comes out on Monday on chsaa.org.
“I’m proud of the boys for all they’ve done,” Felser said. “We feel like we’ve earned our spot, but it’s up to the committee.”
