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Young Rams blank Rangely

Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
Kelley Cox Post Independent
ALL |

CARBONDALE, Colorado – Roaring Fork’s girls soccer team entered the season with a modest enough goal.

“One of the players piped up and said it’d be great if we had a 50-50 season,” first-year Rams coach John Ackerman shared. “We said, ‘Let’s start with that. That’s a reasonable goal for a young team.'”

So far, so good.



Getting goals from four different players, Ackerman’s side leveled its record at 3-3-0 with a 4-0 win over visiting Rangely on Thursday.

After going 4-11-0 in 2009, a .500 record would be a big step for the youthful Rams.



“It’s just great,” Ackerman said. “It’s really exciting to see that they are competing. They didn’t have that parity with the other teams last year.”

An infusion of young talent is certainly helping Roaring Fork along. The Rams list 10 freshmen on their varsity roster.

“At times, we have eight freshmen out there,” said Ackerman, whose team is setting roots for a bright future. “We only have two seniors and one or two juniors.”

Three of those freshmen – Nayeli Alfaro, Taylor Adams and Georgia Ackerman – pitched in with goals on Thursday.

Alfaro, who added two assists, kicked off the scoring nine minutes into the game, intercepting a clearance attempt and drilling home a goal.

Teammate Adrianna Romero set up Alfaro’s tally, juking off a defender and unleashing a shot from just inside the left corner of the 18-yard box. A Rangely defender got a foot on the shot, but couldn’t put much power behind a clearance attempt.

Alfaro took advantage.

“I pressured her,” Alfaro said. “I was at the right place at the right time.”

The Rams added two more goals before halftime to build a comfortable lead.

Romero, one of just Roaring Fork seniors, charged through the Rangely defense to score on an assist from Alfaro in the 29th minute and Adams converted a penalty kick in the 35th minute.

The Rams added an insurance goal late in the second half when Alfaro dumped a pass off for Ackerman, who drilled a shot from just inside the box.

Roaring Fork spent much of the game in control of the possession battle.

“We were really calm,” Alfaro said. “We had good ball control, so I think that really worked for us.”

Next up for the Rams is a Saturday trip to Moffat County for a non-3A Western Slope League game.

Rangely, now 0-5-1, hosts Colorado Rocky Mountain School on Saturday.

jcaspersen@postindependent.com


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