Roaring Fork Rams knock off Rifle Bears in Western Slope soccer league matchup
For the Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Theresa Hamilton/Courtesy photo
The first 3A Western Slope league matchup for the Rifle Bears and Roaring Fork Rams came down to the wire on Thursday afternoon at Rifle High School.
The Rams handed the Bears their first loss of the season after sophomore forward Cal Stone broke the 1-1 tie in the 74th minute.
“It’s always a pleasure to play here,” head coach Nick Forbes said. “They always play the right way, they’re coached the right way, they’re filled with talent. It’s really fun to play here and really fun to squeak out a win at the buzzer.”
Rifle, who is running back a close replica of last season’s roster, seems just as powerful as they were one year ago when the Bears fell to Coal Ridge in the semi-finals of the 3A State Championship. They started their season looking as if that’s all they were thinking of, dominating the first three games of their season before their first matchup against a league opponent.
The familiarity of a league rival escalated the intensity of an early regular season matchup, turning the game into a defensive slugfest. Neither team controlled possession or momentum. Roaring Fork was the first to find the back of the net, although it wasn’t from an overpowering offensive attack.
In the 25th minute, Roaring Fork junior Salbador Vasquez found senior Phillipe Huang at the center circle. Huang found the goalkeeper too far out of the net, took just two dribbles to line up his shot, and unleashed an arching ball.
The lead lasted just 10 minutes, however. As the game returned to its back-and-forth nature, both teams started taking more and more shots from much further out, as neither could create a substantial attack.
Rifle senior midfielder Yahir Marquez took a page out of Huang’s book in the 35th minute, although he put his own flair on his response. The ball was bouncing around and found its way onto the feet of Marquez, who sent an absolute missile from 30 yards out. The ball sailed past the outstretched hands of the diving keeper, slammed off the crossbar, and bounced into the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1 five minutes before the half.
After the Bears scored, they surged with momentum to end the half, almost netting a second before the final horn blew. Rifle, which is a runaway train when rolling, seemed to have found its groove, but the halftime break worked to the Rams’ advantage.
“The message at half was to keep the belief,” Forbes said. “We knew coming in this would be a really tough game. We are a new team, and to seek out a win against such a tough team with a squad I consider to be building instead of complete is a confidence booster for the future and a nice moment for the boys who have been working their tails off.”
The second half was even tighter than the first, but the Rams started to control the pace of the game coming down the stretch. After 25 minutes of play, Roaring Fork put real pressure on the Bears’ defense. Senior Rifle goalkeeper Jefferson Torres kept the game knotted with a fantastic diving stop, but his efforts wouldn’t be enough as the sustained pressure led to more opportunities.
Sophomore Cal Stone broke the tie after finding a clean shot from the left corner of the box, pushing it past the dive of Torres and giving Roaring Fork the late lead in the 74th minute.
The Rams left Rifle with a 2-1 record and a big win against a league opponent. They host another league opponent, the Steamboat Sailors, on Sept. 17.
The Bears suffered their first loss of the season and will look to bounce back against Fruita on Tuesday.
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