Undefeated Season Over After Loss to Aspen

RIDGWAY – “We’ll be remembered,” said Ridgway High School senior and varsity soccer player Logan Daly last week, following his team’s battle against Aspen in the preliminary round of the State Championships on Wednesday.

Although the Demons ultimately fell to the well-coached Aspen squad 2-0, ending their season and upending their undefeated record in one fell swoop, this season’s Ridgway soccer team walked away from the Solar Ranch pitch with heads held high. As only the second soccer team to ever win a berth into the State Championship tournament in the school’s history, this season’s squad – and especially its five outgoing seniors – had much to be proud of.

“The guys worked super hard today,” said RHS head soccer coach Chuck Siefken on Wednesday, following his team’s hard-fought loss to Aspen at home. Aspen, ranked just one position below Ridgway as the 17th seed going into the State Tournament, went on to face the 3A division’s top seed, Colorado Springs Christian, in the round of 16. Aspen lost to undefeated Colorado Springs on Saturday, 4-0.

The Demons, whose exacting passes and tight defense emerged as the team’s deadly calling card this year, lost a bit of their steam mid-way through the Wednesday match against Aspen when the Skiers’ Jesus Meza landed a shot to put Aspen ahead 1-0.

Aspen’s Kyle Lusk then sealed the deal in the second half, fielding a pass from teammate Ben Armstrong and finding the net from 20 yards out to give his team the 2-0 advantage.

The two Wednesday goals posted against Demon defense represented just the 10th and 11th goals scored against the team all season.

According to Daly, big match excitement caused a breakdown in his team’s fundamentals, and was likely at the root of Wednesday’s loss, which, though disappointing, was “a satisfying way to go out.”

He explained of the Demons’ successes in 2008: “A win wasn’t enough for us this year. Our sights were always set on the end of the season.”

Daly was one of the five seniors on this year’s soccer roster, along with Irving Macias, Jesse Klein, Eli Lane, and Danny Blas Mesa. For Lane, the team’s State Tournament berth represented a high point in his nearly lifelong soccer career.

“It was a great season,” he said, explaining that while the players had fun they also kept their heads in the game throughout the season. “We knew what we had to do to get to State.”

This season’s 9-0 record in the regular season stands in stark contrast to the Ridgway boys’ soccer program of just four years ago, when Lane and the team’s other leaders were freshmen. That year, the boys didn’t win a single game, Lane recalled. And just last season, the Demons posted only a handful of victories. “This year, the intensity was there. We all worked really hard,” Lane said.

From Coach Siefken’s perspective, this season’s successes serve to build a strong foundation for Ridgway High School’s soccer future. “I’m optimistic for the future,” he said Wednesday, as his players shouldered their bags and walked off the pitch for the final time this year – and for the team’s five seniors, the final time in their high school careers.

When asked what advice he had for the team’s younger players, who will step in next fall to fill the admittedly big cleats of the 2008 squad’s exiting senior leaders, Lane was earnest.

“Keep your heart in it,” he said. “Have fun, but always keep your heart in it.”