Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Starting slow and finishing fast is hardly a rare storyline for the Aspen High School girls soccer team, so it shouldn’t be surprising when they pull it off so flawlessly.
Facing Summit on Thursday, the Skiers rolled to a 7-0 win on the AHS turf, scoring the bulk of their goals in the second half.
“It takes us a little bit,” Aspen senior defender Margo McHugh said. “We just need to go out playing our game, because sometimes we sink to their level and we know we are better than that. But we picked it up in the second half.”
Playing at home for the first time since a 3-0 win over Roaring Fork on March 19, before spring break, sophomore standout Kelley Francis scored twice in the first half, the second coming in the final minute, to make it a 2-0 contest at the break.
Senior Reiss Rosier got her first goal of the season, a rainbow from 30 yards out, to make it 3-0 Aspen about eight minutes into the second half. When junior Payton Curley made it 4-0 with her goal with roughly 16 minutes to play, the floodgates were officially open.
“As soon as it switches on, it’s on,” AHS assistant coach Michele Gray said.
Freshman Jenny Ellis scored her first career varsity goal to make it 5-0, Francis scored her third of the game and 10th of the season to make it 6-0, and Ellis tacked on a second goal for good measure in stoppage time for the final outcome.
The Skiers went into spring break coming off a 5-4 loss at Class 4A Steamboat Springs, a team that has now won five straight after starting 0-2. The Sailors beat Glenwood Springs on Thursday, 4-1, and travel to Summit (1-5) on Saturday.
“The Steamboat game was a heartbreaker because we worked so hard. We came out in the first five minutes and scored two goals,” Gray said. “They wanted to win it so bad. The vibe of the team, they want to win.”
Aspen (4-2), ranked No. 9 in 3A entering the week, returned from spring break by beating Vail Mountain on Tuesday, 4-2, in a non-league game. The two teams will play again Saturday, this time in Aspen, in a league contest. VMS is 5-3 overall after falling to Battle Mountain on Thursday, 3-1.
The Skiers have only played one league game to date, a 3-0 win over Delta on March 16.
“We are taking it step by step,” McHugh said. “We have a lot of potential, a lot of good players. I think throughout the season, and throughout these next few games, we can definitely step it up and we are going to bring it.”