August 23, 2003 – Goals by Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) and Jake Fiala (Frisco, CO) lifted the men's alpine team Thursday to a 2-1 victory over the “trash-talking” U.S. cross country ski team in a tight soccer match.  “Hey, a win is a win. We're not giving it back,” said alpine Head Coach Phil McNichol, who agreed to two 20-minute halves after training. “Those guys wanted 40-minute halves but we talked 'em down. I mean, that's their sport endurance. We run two-minute downhills.”

“My guys would've played 40 minutes if we'd let 'em. They're competitive athletes – they'd've gone until their hamstrings rolled up,” he laughed. McNichol made no promises about a return match.

The alpine men are training at TrebleCone Ski Area until Sept. 3 while the cross country team and its development team are training at The Snow Farm until the end of August. The game, matching 11-man sides, was played at the local college; the cross country team had to draft a couple of bystanders to complete the team; one of them scored the lone cross country goal. Coach Trond Nystad said, “They won that's all we can say.” The game was arranged after his ski-runners and coaching staff “got into some serious trash-talking with the alpine guys.” He called the game “hard fought” but noted, “We didn't play our best but it was a good game…plenty of fun.”

He quickly added, “We have some work to do but we'll redeem ourselves in the 'New Zealand Soccer Cup' next year. We might even have to challenge them on mother soil when we all get back.”