Rifle makes quick work of Moffat County

Bears’ goalkeeper faces only two shots in game

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Post Independent Photos Rifle High School junior Caitlin Clay takes control of the ball away from the Moffat County Bulldogs during Friday's game in Rifle. Rifle won 2-0. Kelley Cox | Post Independent

By Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
March 29, 2008

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RIFLE — Rifle goalkeeper Abby Schmidt didn’t really mind the relative inactivity on her end of the field. After all, it meant that her Bear girls soccer teammates were keeping the pressure high on the other end of the field.

Though her 18-yard box served as an island, of sorts, Schmidt enjoyed facing just two shots in Friday’s 2-0 win over visiting Moffat County. It gave her plenty of time to watch her teammates work their offensive magic.

“I was just kind of watching what the girls were doing, making sure I knew where the ball was,” said the senior, who’s playing soccer for the first time this season. “I enjoyed it. It makes my job easier.”

Schmidt did face a couple of scary scoring threats, including a point-blank shot-on-goal from the Bulldogs’ Mayra Perez late in the second half.

After a scoreless first half in which Rifle outshot Moffat 8-1, it was Schmidt’s senior teammate, Chelsea Webb, who broke the ice. In the 13th minute, Webb took a pass from teammate Sandy Samson inside the box and lofted an uncontested shot over the right shoulder of Moffat keeper Gricelda Quezada.

Assisting teammate Caitlin Clay with a forward pass in the box, Webb helped pad the Bears’ advantage in the 29th minute. Webb’s give left Clay wide open to fire a short-range laser on net and essentially put Moffat away for good.

“That’s the best game I’ve seen (Chelsea) play in two years,” Rifle coach Mark Knighton praised. “She made so many smart plays, little one-touch balls in her space. It was really good to see her play well. She was so sick last year.”

Illness kept Webb from playing her best soccer last season.

“It’s just good to see her well,” Knighton said.

All told, the Bears put 16 shots on goal to the Bulldogs’ two. Moffat coach Alegra Yager said that has everything to do with her squad’s limited outside practice time.

“Yesterday was our first practice on a field,” the first-year coach noted. “You can tell we need to start spacing the field. That doesn’t happen when you’re inside a gym.
We’ve got to start getting offensive opportunities, starting to know what it feels like to make a run.”

Next on the schedule for Rifle, which leveled its record at 1-1-1 for the season, is a Tuesday trip to Steamboat Springs. Moffat, now 0-2, is slated to travel to Palisade on Tuesday. Both teams have played an entirely-Class 4A Western Slope League schedule.

Spending the day in Rifle

A miscommunication landed Moffat County in Rifle at about 10 a.m. on Friday. The problem: their game wasn’t until 4 p.m.

Turns out, the Bulldogs’ schedule had the wrong time listed.

So what’d Coach Yager and her players do all day?

“We spent some time at Wal-Mart, went to the park,” she said with a grin. “We ate some pizza and then spent about two hours on the field.”