EAST VAIL – The Vail Mountain School made itself at home on its new, turf field Tuesday afternoon with a 4-2 win over an undermanned but feisty Roaring Fork team.

“The field’s awesome,” VMS junior Sylvan Ellefson said. “It’s home now.”

Certainly, it was for Ellefson, who scored the game-winner late in the first half, dribbling around Rams goalie Matt Pucak.

VMS came out of the box hot as Patrick Scanlan fed Howdy Tuthill from left to right for an easy tap-in and a 1-0 Gore Rangers lead in the first minute.

Though VMS dominated most of the play, Roaring Fork tied it when Alfonso Flores clanked one off the crossbar and Reyes Torres slammed home the rebound.

Minutes later, VMS senior Duncan Robinson weaved through several Rams defenders and put one by Pucak. VMS made a point of marking the Rams’ Jason Ibanez, but the Rams co-captain evened up the match at two with a hard shot into the left corner.

After Ellefson’s goal and the halftime whistle, both teams settled down. Gore Rangers’ goalie Michael Busnehart made a nifty save on Ibanez midway through the second half and, by then, the Rams were running on fumes with just 10 players on the field.

“I’m definitely pleased with our effort,” Rams coach Sara Weiss said. “You just adjust the best you can. The kids go in, knowing it. It’s hard, but they have great hearts and go in there and work it. (Fatigue) definitely does play a factor. We have a lot of kids who are hurting. It’s hard playing with no subs.”

VMS sophomore Jake Utzig rounded out the scoring with a penalty kick.

Roaring Fork fell to 1-5 and 0-3. The Rams are off until Sept. 20 when they play cross-town rival Colorado Rocky Mountain School at CRMS.