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Sailors put up valiant effort in playoff loss against Grand Junction

GRAND JUNCTION — The No. 23 Steamboat Springs High School boys soccer team led early against No. 10 Grand Junction in the first round of the Colorado High School Activities Association 4A Playoffs, but eventually fell 5-3 Thursday night on the road.

The Sailors got out to an early lead, 1-0 and held that advantage at the half.

“The Steamboat boys were fantastic,” head coach Rob Bohlmann said. “They put in such a great effort. We were able to capitalize on some opportunities we created. At the same time, the boys were able to withhold a very dangerous attack from Grand Junction had fairly consistently. They did well. The scoring, it was a back and forth thing.”



The Tigers tied up the game at one early in the second, but Steamboat countered to lead 2-1. Soon it was tied at 2, then again at 3.

“At 3-3, at that point, they were able to, in the final 15 minutes, they had some really good quality finishes,” Bohlmann said. “They were just class. In the end, they edged the boys out. Having said that, it was a tremendous game from both groups. The Steamboat boys were quality for sure.”



Laiken Roth may have given up five goals to the Tigers, but he was tough and made some incredible saves.

“Laiken had a tremendous presence. He was really good,” Bohlman. “Each of the goals were quality finishes. For that matter, our finishes were quality as well. As a keeper, he did all the right things. He saved the shots and balls in the box that needed to be saved and came up with a couple of big saves. Their goals were ones that were not savable.”

Steamboat ends the season 7-8-1, and were happy to have earned its first playoff appearance since 2017.

“They had a great showing,” Bohlman said. “It wasn’t just, ‘Oh we’re happy to be here’ and we showed up. We competed and made it a game.”

Grand Junction 5, Steamboat Springs 3

SS 1 2 – 3

GJ 0 5 – 5

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