Niwot boys soccer splits opening week

Led by senior Keegan Stobbe and junior Azael Marrufo, the Niwot boys soccer team went 1-1 in its first week of games. The Cougars opened with a convincing 6-1 win over Fort Morgan on March 18 before dropping a narrow 2-1 contest against Skyview on March 20.

Stobbe scored a pair of goals and four other Cougars found the back of the net once against Fort Morgan, including Marrufo, Tavan Karbassi, Ismael Dominguez and Jett Feiner. Junior Jacob Elston assisted on two of the goals, while Stobbe, Julian Biscaldi, Dominguez and Feiner each picked up one assist against Fort Morgan. Sophomore goalkeeper Javier Amaya saved two shots.

Against the defending 4A state champs Skyview, the Cougars fell behind 2-0 early and couldn't rebound. Head coach Stephen Dimit said Skyview goalkeeper Obed Hinojos made several "out of this world" saves in the second half to halt Niwot's offense. Maruffo was the only Cougar who could get a ball past Hinojos and his 13 saves.

"Aza (Maruffo) has been so dangerous," Dimit said. "He's such a good player and he's so smart on the field in just kind of working space, taking guys on one on one. He's been really nice to have out there, given us solid minutes."

Although Stobbe couldn't get on the board against Skyview, he and Maruffo have become a nice dual threat.

"He's so hungry for it this year," Dimit said of Stobbe. "There were times when four (Skyview) guys couldn't contain him. They were going out of their way to mark him really really tight with half the players on their team and it wasn't even phasing him."

The 2-1 loss became Niwot's fourth consecutive one-goal loss to Skyview dating back to 2018.

In both games, Niwot struggled out of the gates defensively by relinquishing the first goal. Dimit said Niwot's poor starts are likely a product of simply not having played many games this year.

"We've been giving up some early goals in games and then having to battle back out of that, which has been good. It's nice to know that we can," Dimit said. "But overall, I've been impressed with the guys."

For Dimit, one of the benefits of playing an elite team like Skyview is that he can now gauge where his team needs to improve.

"Skyview showed us what we need to clean up and we've got, we have our list of stuff that we want to get better at," Dimit said. "The goal is to try and come out on top of the (3A/4A Longs Peak) league."

After another weekend snow storm, playable field conditions repeat as a factor in week two. Niwot's initial opener at Roosevelt on March 16 was scratched and both of Niwot's first two "home" games were played at Erie High School's turf field. Pending any schedule shifts, Niwot will play at Berthoud on March 23 and then host Riverdale Ridge on March 25 at 4 p.m.