Olathe obliterated

Basalt’s girls team won its final home soccer match of the regular season Thursday, a 10-0 romp over Olathe. It actually felt more like 20-0.Basalt sophomore Dayne Toney finished off the Pirates three minutes into the second half when she dribbled between two defenders and ripped a shot past Olathe’s keeper to induce the double-digit mercy rule.That Toney was playing forward instead of her regular spot in goal illustrated how lopsided the win was. That she was one of only seven Basalt players to start the second half against a full Olathe side only drove home the point.That’s not all. Toney also recorded her first assist of the season – from her goalie spot.Sophomore teammate Kat Fitzpatrick caught up to a long clearing kick from Toney in the third minute, then wheeled and fired a shot to give the ‘Horns a 1-0 lead. “I can’t say I really knew what I was doing, but it was fun,” Toney said of her turn on offense. “Probably my favorite game of the season.”Junior Katie Staerkel scored the first of her three straight goals three minutes later off an assist from Fitzpatrick. The other two scores came off perfectly timed headers. Junior Jessi Graf assisted on the first in the 10th minute, and senior Maddie Hoffman helped on the second off a corner kick two minutes later.Hoffman added an unassisted goal of her own six minutes later. Graf, Sam Christiansen, Allison Pendergrast and Emily Peetz also scored.

Thursday’s win was the third consecutive shutout for Basalt (12-1-1 overall, 9-1 in Western Slope 3A) following Saturday’s 3-1 upset loss to rival Aspen.That upset, as tough as it was to stomach at the time, was a blessing, Staerkel said. “Compared to where we have been in the past, we’re not as confident, but I think that could benefit us,” the junior said when asked about the upcoming playoffs. “We’ve just come out knowing that we have more to prove now than we’ve ever had before. It’s showed all through this week with the games that we’ve played.”Toney agreed. The sophomore keeper had allowed only one goal in nine previous games before giving up three to Aspen.”We’ve stepped it up,” she said. “We needed that loss. It just made us better. We were a little off that day, and we’ve pulled it back together and come together as a team really well.”Staerkel wasn’t ruling out the possibility of Toney playing more offense in Tuesday’s regular-season finale in Carbondale against CRMS. “It was definitely amusing to watch Dayne, because it’s hard for her to stay on her feet,” she said laughing. “To watch her do as well as she did was impressive. She’s not half bad.”Nate Peterson’s e-mail address is npeterson@aspentimes.com