Fort Lewis College only had scored 22 goals in its previous four women’s lacrosse games.
The Skyhawks found the back of the net 18 times Saturday at home.
Four FLC players scored hat tricks, and the Skyhawks (8-6, 3-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) had no problem tallying an 18-8 victory against Adams State (2-10, 1-6 RMAC) at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.
“We’ve been kind of struggling production-wise on attack, because we’ve been playing really tough-caliber teams,” FLC head coach Kelsey MacDonald said. “(Saturday) was a good confidence builder for the attack to know we can score as much as we want.”
Kathryn Dunn, Abby Kvidera, Jessica Norby and Jam Vertner all scored three goals in the win. Vertner also added three assists as she led the team in points.
“We had been working on shooting all week, so it is nice to see that it actually paid off,” Vertner said.
Ellie Carpenter, Marissa DiCecco and Ally Kvidera scored two goals each. Carpenter added three assists, and Brook Wineland also had two assists for FLC.
“The whole goal (Saturday) was to score often and early, and then play as a team on attack, move the ball and have the scoring be moved around,” MacDonald said. “It definitely was good to see a lot of people with a lot of production on attack.”
FLC goalkeeper Alyssa Spencer, a Durango High School alumna, made six saves in the game and allowed seven goals. She gave up five goals in the first half but didn’t allow a goal in the opening 23 minutes of the second half.
“We started a fire, but it wasn’t burning very well in the beginning. Our defense struggled in the beginning like we were cold or something,” Spencer said. “We definitely picked it up afterward, so it was nice to see when we picked it up.”
Kendra Cheda, Julia Gramlich, Melanie McKissic and Sarah O’Brien all scored two goals for Adams State in the loss.
Grace Komatz made 13 saves for Adams State.
It was the second time this season the Skyhawks have beat the Grizzlies by 10 goals. FLC beat Adams State 19-9 on March 1. The game did not count toward the RMAC standings, as only the first game between the conferences foes is allowed to count as an official conference game.
FLC will finish the regular season at home at 1 p.m. April 26 against Colorado College (13-4), a Division III team the Skyhawks never have beat before.
“Colorado College is a very good team and beat us every time we’ve ever played them. I think this year is our year,” MacDonald said. “We have a great team, and it would be awesome to end the game with a W.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
