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AHS girls soccer falls to Vail Mountain in final game before spring break

Aspen High School's Chelsea Moore, right, chases down a loose ball Thursday at home against Vail Mountain. The Skiers lost, 2-0.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times |

Aspen High School girls soccer coach John Gillies suggested Mexico as the destination of choice for next week’s spring break. Most of the players, however, were happy enough escaping into the warmth of their coats as Old Man Winter made an appearance Thursday in the Skiers’ final game ahead of their week off.

“Our girls are frozen,” said Gillies, who late in the second half of Thursday’s game against visiting Vail Mountain admitted his own feet were frozen. “I guess it snows more in Vail, because they seem to adapt better.”

Clear just before the start of the game, the first half was played in pounding sleet, while the second half was played with large, wet snowflakes falling onto AHS athletic field. It made little difference for the Gore Rangers, who netted a goal in each half to come away with a 2-0 win over the Skiers.



“I never expect to lose on this field, but that is a good Vail team,” Gillies said. “This is one of those ones on paper we didn’t want to lose because we are at home, but we could take a loss from them. We just don’t want to lose against anybody else now.”

Gillies credited much of Vail Mountain’s recent success — they are 3-0 this season and are the two-time defending Class 2A state champions — to its year-round program. Gillies is just now getting his full compliment of players together, but will have to wait to continue to make progress until after spring break.




“It’s just another hurdle that we go through in the spring sports season,” Gillies said. “All the expectations we have at the beginning of the season are on paper. We got fantastic players. So it comes to not enough time to get the preparation.”

The Skiers head into their break 2-3 overall, and don’t play again until traveling to Rangely on April 4 for its league opener. Coal Ridge visits Aspen April 6.

“We got loads of time. It doesn’t really matter at this point,” Gillies said of Thursday’s loss to Vail Mountain. “This is a 2A school. They drop down into a 2A bracket for states, so the league is still up for grabs.”

acolbert@aspentimes.com