Soccer: Longhorns, Skiers named all-league
The Aspen Times
With the conclusion of the prep soccer season, the all-conference honors are in.
The Basalt Longhorns and the Aspen Skiers landed players on the Western Slope All-League team this season in voting by the conference coaches.
League champion Vail Mountain School, advancing all the way to the state semifinals, led the all-league boys soccer selections.
Dylan Cunningham of the Gore Rangers was voted the conference player of the year.
Vail Mountain’s Pete Petrowski was selected as the coach of the year for 2015.
Basalt, the second-place finisher in the regular season, had four players selected to the all-conference team.
They included Matthew Anderson, Pedro Rivera, Javier de la Cruz and William Cabrera.
Two more Longhorns (8-6-2) were named all-league honorable mention — Pablo Rivera and Caleb Rewinkle.
Basalt advanced to the state playoffs where the Longhorns dropped a first-round match against Sheridan. The Longhorns are coached by veteran Brent Hayes.
Two Aspen Skiers were voted to the all-league team.
They were Jorge Esparza and Harry Kahn.
The Skiers also had two players on the honorable mention team — Francisco Pineda and Nikko Wehse.
The Skiers (6-9-1) qualified for the state playoffs again this season. They lost to eventual state champion Kent Denver 2-0 in the first round.
Coach Dave Francis led the Skiers to the postseason for the second consecutive season.
Kent Denver eventually eliminated Vail Mountain School with a 2-0 win in the state semifinals in Denver.
Kent Denver, two-time state champs, finished the season 19-0-1.
Vail Mountain School was 16-2-1 overall with the charge into the state’s final four of Class 3A boys soccer.
Vail Mountain’s all-league picks included Kevin Garcia, Liam Hurley, Peter Ferraro and Eric Zdechlik.
Three Coal Ridge players made the all-league team. The Titans pulled back-to-back upsets in the state playoffs, eventually falling to Fountain Valley in the state semifinals.
The all-conference Titans are Miguel Navarro, Ray Bencomo and Sergio Valentin.
Roaring Fork’s Aaron Palomera joined the first team along with Soren Lindholm of Colorado Rocky Mountian chool, Ulises Silva of Moffat County, Elijah Haywood of Rifle and Jesus Raygoza of Grand Valley.
The honorable mention squad for this season:
Colin Rouaud, Vail Mountain
Bridger Gile, Vail Mountain
Robby Gruber, Vail Mountain
Pablo Rivera, Basalt
Caleb Rewinkle, Basalt
Roman Plano, Coal Ridge
Julian Huerta, Coal Ridge
Francisco Pineda
Gustavo Oliva, Roaring Fork
Alex Palomera, Roaring Fork
Nicholas Schultz, CRMS
Hugo Snyder, Moffat County
Marco Hernandez, Moffat County
Alexis Ramos, Rifle
Cristian Vicencio, Grand Valley
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