Steamboat Springs soccer serves Battle Mountain its first conference loss

Going into Thursday night’s game at Gardner Field, the Battle Mountain boys soccer team was 5-3 overall and 4-0 against Western Slope teams.

Steamboat Springs High School used three first-half goals to defeat the Huskies 4-2, serving them their first conference loss.

The Sailors looked great in the first half, dominating in every aspect of the game. Junior Cam Daly scored nine minutes in. Nine minutes later, freshman William Haden added another goal to make it 2-0 with 22 minutes to play.

The last time the Sailors and the Huskies played, Battle Mountain won at home 2-1. Scoring two goals to take an early lead was a major improvement for Steamboat.

The Sailors didn’t stop there, though. Senior Joe Scoppa scored off a header that arched over the advancing Huskies keeper with 10:03 in the first half.

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Five minutes into the second half, Daly scored his second goal of the night off a through ball from sophomore Charlie Reisman.

Steamboat was thankful for the big lead. Battle Mountain scored three unanswered goals to end the game. The game ended before they could tie.

Twenty seconds after Daly’s second-half goal, Battle Mountain got its first off a defensive error from Steamboat.

The defense playing too high and goalkeeper Charlie Welch being too aggressive resulted in another goal 10 minutes later. The Huskies weren’t out of it at 4-2 with 23 minutes to play.

Steamboat held them off, but the Huskies held out hope, scoring off a free kick with 41 seconds to play. They desperately put the ball on goal, but the buzzer sounded before the Huskies tied it.

Steamboat is now 5-4-1 overall and 2-2-1 in league play. The victory snapped a cold spell for the Sailors, who haven’t won since Sept. 4 and lost or tied their last four contests.

The team next plays against Rifle at 11 a.m. Saturday at home.

Steamboat Springs 4, Battle Mountain 3

SS 3 1 – 4

BM 0 3 – 2

First half

SS – Cam Daly (Laiken Roth), 31:19

SS – William Haden (Liam Catterson), 22:00

SS – Joe Scoppa (Charlie Reisman), 10:03

Second half

SS – Cam Daly (Reisman), 34:46

BM – Yahir Eguis, 34:24

BM – Bryant Ramirez, 23:48

BM – free kick goal, 0:41