Team depth is the element that makes up for adversity when unexpected events happen. Such was the case for the Central High School girls soccer team in Friday’s season opener with Coal Ridge.

Having fashioned a 3-0 lead after 14 minutes of the first half, the Warriors were well on their way to posting an easy win on the Class 3A Titans.

But a few plays after Kaselyn Butters secured her hat trick with a shot to the far post from the left side of the net, Butters and the Warriors suffered a blow nobody saw coming.

Buzzing around the Titan goal, Butters collided with another player. The result left the senior yelping in pain and transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in a air cast.

The degree of Butters injury was unknown to Central head coach Larry Johnson. Yet taking advantage of his team’s depth, Johnson rallied the Warriors to a 7-1 rout.

“That’s really a trademark of Central soccer right now is our playing aggressive,” the coach said. “Our girls are a year older. We know what it takes to go to state and do some damage. That’s playing physical.”

And the Warriors didn’t miss a beat on the athletic or aggressive fronts despite possibly losing their top scorer for most of the year.

“With a lot of new girls on the team this year, we told them that we wanted to come out here with a killer instinct and put them away early,” Johnson said.

That mission was accomplished when sophomore Kayln Madaris netted the first of her two goals in the 26th minute off an assist from Stacey Kinnett.

Coal Ridge, which only had four total shots on goal, got on the scoreboard when Emily Jackson scored with five minutes left in the half.

After intermission the Warriors resumed their onslaught on Titans goalies Vanessa Hinojos and Carolyn Cloninger.

Ari Herrera raised Central’s lead to 5-1 six minutes into the second half. Forward Ashley Paul, who assisted on Herrera’s goal, made it 6-1 Warriors in the 53rd minute. Maderis recorded her second goal with nine minutes remaining.

With an abundance of talent to draw from, possibly the worst problems facing Central are Butters’ health status, which remains unknown, and an 11-day break between games caused by spring break.

The Warriors are scheduled to return to the field March 18 at Aspen before returning to Long’s Family Park for a home game with Class 4A Glenwood Springs March 20.