The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate soccer team will continue its season following spring break with games against Telluride in Telluride on April 3 and Alamosa at home on April 5.
Both games will take place at 4 p.m.
Coach Trevor Gian explained that the team worked on refining its formation and cohesion following its victory over Lake County on March 19 and will continue to do so when practices resume after spring break.
He stated that he is also considering shifting the team’s formation to a more defensive arrangement for the beginning of the matches against Telluride and Alamosa to give the Lady Pirates a chance to assess the opposing team and improve their opportunities to defend against the pressure these teams may exert.
He commented that both of these matches will likely be “very tough, very competitive” games against strong opposing teams.
Gian added that he does not have an expectation of if the team will win or lose these matches and is focused on the team improving and continuing to make adjustments.
“My expectation is to go out there and play with some effort and some heart, kind of like we’ve been doing,” he said. “There might be stuff we still have to work on, and we’ll definitely see that in the game, talk about it and try to adjust for the next one.”
The coach commented that the team’s schedule will pick up in the number of weekly games in April compared to March.
However, he noted that the slower start was “pretty nice” and gave the team time to practice and refine its skills as well as make adjustments following matches.
“I’m excited to gear up and get into it because that will just kind of show us where we’re at and what we need to work on a little more than the spread out games and practices,” Gian said, referring to the busier portion of the schedule.
He also highlighted that both the matches against Telluride and Alamosa will be accompanied by junior varsity (JV) matches.
Gian added that he is “excited” about these JV matches as they will give the team’s younger players additional opportunities to play against opponents closer to their skill level.
The team’s roster contains 26 players, 10 of whom are freshman and seven of whom are sophomores.
“It’s kind of nice to have that option and be able to have those games as well,” he said. “With the numbers, it’s nice to kind of designate some of more experienced players as varsity, some of the players that are developing but show that effort and attitude, they’re going to place in varsity, but also, because of how many young players we have, it’s nice to get them experience as a group on the JV games as well ‘cause then they’ll develop and grow together.”
The results of the varsity matches against Telluride and Alamosa will be reported in the April 11 issue of The SUN.
josh@pagosasun.com
