craigdailypress.com

Carbondale — It’s safe to say that Moffat County’s boys soccer team is now mighty familiar with the roads from Craig to Carbondale.

For the second time in four days, the Bulldogs visited Carbondale. On Saturday, they were in town to play Roaring Fork. On Tuesday, it was Colorado Rocky Mountain School.

“We ought to just do a doubleheader,” Moffat County coach Rusty Cox joked.

Although the Bulldogs again left Carbondale with a loss on Tuesday, the coach saw a spirited effort out of his team in a 3-2 loss to the Oysters.

“Much better,” said Cox, whose team suffered a 4-1 loss to Roaring Fork on Saturday. “We just made little mistakes, really. It was a good game. It was a very evenly matched game. They just came out on top. It’s all good. It’s probably one of the better games I’ve seen my boys play.”

Alan Flores opened the scoring on a frigid and overcast afternoon, rifling a one-hopper into the net at right around the 13-minute mark.

CRMS answered in the 36th minute with a goal by Sam Shaw, who ran down a pass and tapped it in just as Bulldogs goalkeeper Alex Arellano and a defender were bearing down on him.

Ben Holland, a transfer from Basalt High School playing in his first game with the Oysters, drilled a corner kick that bounced up off the ground, smacked the post and then into the net maybe two minutes into the second half to give the Oysters a 2-1 lead.

“I was just trying to get it in to my players,” Holland said. “I put it perfectly right in a place where the goalie couldn’t get it.”

Jari Lindholm scored what proved to be the game-winner midway through the second half. He chased down a long pass from Funes and then got a kick off just as Arellano charged and slid in an effort to diffuse the threat. While Lindholm didn’t get much on the shot, the ball slowly rolled across the line to give CRMS a 3-1 lead in the 57th minute.

Flores and teammate Kelly Campbell teamed up to make it 3-2 later about six minutes later. Flores drilled a shot off the post that ricocheted out to Campbell, who poked the ball into a wide-open net. Campbell, new to soccer this year, was playing in just his second varsity game.

Moffat County, which dropped to 1-6 overall with the defeat, will host Grand Valley at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The Oysters, now 3-2-1, will host Coal Ridge on Saturday.