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Lady Longhorns off to strong start

Steve Benson

Basalt’s girls soccer team continues to cruise, shutting out CRMS 6-0 in Carbondale Tuesday.

Once again, the Lady Longhorns saved their best for last, scoring five goals in the second half.

“The second half was really impressive,” Basalt coach Chris Woods said.



Last weekend, the Longhorns overcame a two-goal deficit at the half against Eagle Valley to win 3-2 in overtime.

Leading the way Tuesday was rising sophomore star Maddie Hoffman, who scored two goals.




“She scored two against Eagle as well, which were really big for us,” Woods said.

Shannon Hutton, Ukare Sano, Ashley Eaton, and Whitney Lund each had a goal, with Eaton and freshman Katie Staerkel picking up two assists apiece.

“She’s stepping up really well, starting to fit into the team,” Woods said about Staerkel.

Woods said two of the Longhorns goals were amazing to watch.

“[Hutton’s] goal was brilliant,” he said. “It was a turn-around, left-footed shot from the edge of the 18 [yard mark] – it was a pretty powerful shot, the keeper had no chance to get it.”

Sano’s goal came off a corner kick from Meghan Stewart.

“It was a one-time header straight into the back of the net,” Woods said. “We’ve been practicing corners during training to see one come off like that, it was pretty great to watch.”

The Longhorns have improved to 3-0 in the conference and Woods doesn’t feel they’re in danger of slowing down.

“I think we can never be overconfident,” Woods said. “We’re really strong, we’ve got a lot of talent.”

Instead, Woods’ greatest concern is the depth of his roster.

“We have 15 or 16 girls that can start and we have only 11 positions,” Woods said. “We have an abundance of talent and we’re trying to get the best girls on the field at one time.

“It’s a great dilemma to be in.”

Basalt travels to Vail Mountain for a 4 p.m. game today.

Steve Benson’s e-mail address is sbenson@aspentimes.com