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CRMS shocks Basalt

Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Jim Ryan contributed photoCRMS goalkeeper Frank Adgate collides with Basalt's Austin Long and a pair of teammates while chasing down a ball Saturday in Carbondale.
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CARBONDALE – With a brace and tape wrapped snugly around his sprained, swollen left ankle, Colorado Rocky Mountain School senior Steve Roh soaked in the biggest win of his high school soccer career.

A victory he contributed to in a big way, using that mess of a left foot to score a late goal against Basalt, a tally that leveled the count and set the stage for a game-winning penalty kick by teammate Mathew Myers.

“Take a picture of his ankle,” his teammates joked in the aftermath of the Oysters’ 2-1 upset win at CRMS.



Just moments earlier, Roh’s ankle, one he sprained at a recent practice and further injured during a Thursday game against Vail Mountain, was busy contributing to its owner’s heroics.

With roughly 10 minutes to go in Saturday’s contest, Cole Kloster booted a pass into the left flat from near midfield. Roh took the pass with room to sprint and, as he advanced deep into the Oysters’ offensive third, got off a tough-angled kick with that left foot.




And it was anything but pretty.

“I thought I was going to hit it a little bit higher, but it just rolled,” said Roh, a native of South Korea. “I thought oh, it didn’t go in. And then the goalie was like jumping and I said, ‘Oh, good.'”

Roh’s roller somehow snuck across the line at the far post, sparking a wild celebration.

And CRMS didn’t wait long to celebrate again.

Some three minutes later, a shove inside the 18-yard box set the Oysters up with a penalty kick.

Myers lined the ball up and drilled it high into the right corner of the net, a spot that left Longhorns goalkeeper Jeffer Flores with little chance to make the save.

“I just put it where he’s not going to get it,” Myers said. “I just try not to think about it and just visualize it in and let the ball do the work from there.”

Myers’ penalty kick was the afternoon’s second.

Basalt jumped out to its 1-0 lead 20 minutes into the second half by virtue of a Johnnie Diaz penalty strike. The left-footed Diaz buried a shot to CRMS goalkeeper Frank Adgate’s right.

A tackle inside the box won the Longhorns the penalty kick on a call that had the Oysters’ sideline visibly miffed.

“It looked to me like it was a pretty clean tackle,” CRMS coach Dan Pittz said. “We had the ball in our possession and their player went down. To be honest, it was the same thing with our PK. I wasn’t sure if there was a call there either. Who knows?”

But the what-ifs didn’t matter all that much to Pittz once the final whistle blew.

“I’m happy with the result right now,” he said. “I feel for Basalt and John [McDermott].”

McDermott seemed less concerned with the penalty kicks and more focused on missed opportunities.

“Hey, it’s the game. It’s the game, you know?” he said. “We should have put the ball away a couple times. They never really got to our goal until halfway through the second half. We’ve got to finish better.”

The veteran coach hopes to see his side rebound well from the setback, which dropped Basalt to 2-2 overall and to 1-1 in the 3A Western Slope League (Region 7).

“The sign of a good team is when you bounce back from it,” said McDermott, whose Longhorns travel to Glenwood Springs on Tuesday.

The Oysters, now 2-0 overall and in league, return to their home pitch Monday against Coal Ridge.

Until then, there will no doubt be plenty savoring of Saturday’s heroics. Particularly that left-footed roller by Roh.

“He hasn’t shot with his left foot the last four years he’s been here,” Myers joked. “We’ve tried to drill him for it. Finally he shoots with his left foot and he scores.”

Basalt and CRMS will meet again on Sept. 26. That one will be in Basalt.