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Dj vu for Aspen girls

Nate Peterson
Paul Conrad/The Aspen Times
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Same two teams, same uniforms, same score – different field.It was impossible not to feel a sense of déjà vu Tuesday after the Aspen girls soccer team dismantled visiting CRMS at home, 7-0. The Skiers (5-1) routed the Pearls last week in Carbondale by the same margin, but the similarities didn’t end there. In the first game, Aspen led by two at the break, before netting five goals in the first 30 minutes of the second half. The same was true again Tuesday in Aspen’s home opener.Junior striker Taylor Buzbee connected on an assist from senior Carly Magill in the first five minutes, and senior Emily Hassall banged home the Skiers’ second in the 16th minute.

Hassall’s goal, off an assist from younger sister Julia, came only minutes after referees called off her first shot into the net. A Buzbee header rebounded off the crossbar before falling back to the turf, and Emily Hassall was the first to touch the ball. However, the referees ruled that Buzbee’s header had bounced off the higher of the two crossbars – the one for the football goalpost – and was consequently out of play. In the second half, Emily Hassall scored twice more to earn a hat trick, while Buzbee added her second. Magill and Julia Hassall each had a goal, too.Aspen head coach John Gillies noted the similarities between the two games but felt his team played a more complete game at home Tuesday.”I wanted to see if we could pass the ball gracefully today, and I think we did that at times,” he said. “I wanted to know, can we pass under pressure and maintain possession, instead of just aimlessly kicking it forward? We’ve got to work on the panic button that we have when we get into a pressure situation.”

Emily Hassall concurred, and credited her younger sister and fellow midfielders Magill, Buzbee and Kelly Mitchell for creating easy scoring chances. Magill finished with a team-high three assists and Julia Hassall had two. “It’s the same score today, but we worked harder,” Emily Hassall said. “The passing game was incredible. We came out fast like we did in the other game, then we dropped our energy down a level before we had the pep talk at half time. After that, we wanted to score until we couldn’t score anymore.”And it could have been more. While the Skiers netted five shots in the final 40 minutes, a dozen blasts sailed wide or into the hands of the CRMS keeper.While Aspen’s passing game was responsible for point-blank shots, the most spectacular goal was the unassisted one Buzbee chipped in to give Aspen a 4-0 lead in the 45th minute.



After tracking down a loose ball on the left side of the goal, Buzbee arced a shot from about 35 yards off that sailed over the hands of the CRMS goalie and into the top right corner of the net. As for the best assist, that honor went to Magill in the 70th minute. After dancing between a pair of defenders in the box, the senior spotted Julia Hassall standing next to the far post and lofted a perfect cross in her direction. Hassall headed the ball into the goal for the Skiers’ final score. Aspen next plays Olathe at home at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Pearls next game is at home against Vail Mountain School at 4 p.m. Thursday.Nate Peterson’s e-mail address is npeterson@aspentimes.com