{"id":2442624,"date":"2019-04-06T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T04:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/francis-curley-rally-skiers-past-vms-in-dramatic-comeback-win\/"},"modified":"2019-04-06T22:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T04:56:00","slug":"francis-curley-rally-skiers-past-vms-in-dramatic-comeback-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/francis-curley-rally-skiers-past-vms-in-dramatic-comeback-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis, Curley rally Skiers past VMS in dramatic comeback win"},"content":{"rendered":"
Aspen High School freshman Jenny Ellis, left, chases down a loose ball in the girls soccer game against Vail Mountain on Saturday, April 6, 2019, on the AHS turf. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong>
Austin Colbert\/Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was a certain spunk to the Aspen High School girls soccer team last spring when it made a surprising run to the Class 3A state semifinals as a mere 13 seed.<\/p>\n

Early on this season, despite a preseason No. 4 ranking, that same moxie just hasn\u2019t been there. At least, it wasn\u2019t until the second half of Saturday\u2019s game against visiting Vail Mountain School, where the Skiers pulled out a near miraculous 4-3 comeback victory they hope will allow them to regain that championship form.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese girls put their heart out on the field today and they showed who they really were,\u201d AHS assistant Michele Gray said. \u201cAfter the game, they talked and they said this is who they are. So I think we found our pace and I think we found our heart today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing without key defenders Margo McHugh and Jasmin Hanson, and known for having a tendency to start games slowly, the Skiers were a mess early, falling into a 3-0 deficit to a team they had beaten as recently as Tuesday, a 4-2 non-league win in Vail. A goal by sophomore Kelley Francis late in the first half got things going in the other direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing down 3-0 was kind of scary, especially since we played so well against Vail earlier this week,\u201d sophomore midfielder Grace Romero said. \u201cWe all thought coming into it that we had it in the bag. We came out maybe a little cocky. But once the next goal was scored, we got our momentum back.\u201d<\/p>\n

A header by AHS senior Clara Maxwell made it 3-2 midway through the second half. Suddenly down only a goal, Aspen could feel those magic powers from last year\u2019s playoff run begin to return.<\/p>\n

Still, the Skiers needed every second of regulation to finish their comeback. As the clock was ticking away in stoppage time, AHS goalie Ella Trane delivered a long ball back into play, which the speedy Francis reined in and found a way past her defender to put the game-tying goal home.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as we planned. Entertain the crowd. We are doing our best to try and fill the stadiums up,\u201d AHS head coach John Gillies joked. \u201cThis is the last year of this turf. We don\u2019t want to get beat on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

About five minutes into the first overtime period, Aspen put the game to rest with a goal by junior Payton Curley into the right corner of the net, set up by a soft touch pass from Francis. There was a bit of pandemonium from the players and a collective exhale from the coaching staff in what was a playoff-esque performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us before the game, we were really focused on pulling together as a team, using good communication,\u201d Romero said, \u201cso I think what we had to do was get our heads the second half and it showed and we did it and we played until the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win keeps Aspen undefeated since spring break. The Skiers, currently No. 9 in 3A, are 5-2 overall and 2-0 in league play. Roughly midway through the season, the comeback victory over the Gore Rangers (5-4, 1-2) will likely be seen as season defining by the time all games have been played.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad it happened, because it showed character. These girls now know we\u2019ve got fight. They can fight,\u201d Gillies said, not being able to resist one final joke. \u201cEverything came to plan. We knew what we had to do to get the best out of these girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up for Aspen is a trip Thursday to its main downvalley rival, the first of two contests Aspen and Basalt will play this season. The Longhorns, led by first-year coach Kate McBride, earned their first win of the season on Saturday by beating Roaring Fork, 3-0. BHS (1-3, 1-1) will first host VMS on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen High School freshman Jenny Ellis, left, chases down a loose ball in the girls soccer game against Vail Mountain on Saturday, April 6, 2019, on the AHS turf. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).Austin Colbert\/Aspen Times There was a certain spunk to the Aspen High School girls soccer team last spring when it made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2442624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 08:57:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}