In the final game last season, the Durango girls lacrosse team rallied from an eight-point deficit to beat Telluride.
Friday in both team’s season opener at DHS, the Miners got even.
Durango scored the first three goals of the second half to take a 7-2 lead.
Telluride then rallied, scoring five unanswered goals to tie the game, 7-7.
Emmylou Willis answered for Durango less than a minute later, scoring her fourth goal of the game to put the Demons back in front 8-7.
The Miners, however, scored four goals in the last six minutes to win the contest, 11-8.
“I think they played pretty well,” said DHS head coach Eric Elliott, adding that Telluride is probably the team’s biggest rival because of their proximity. He said the team’s speed and endurance helped them charge ahead while its defense shut down Telluride’s shots early on, but that Durango got “complacent” once it took a big lead.
“What you saw tonight was a product of seven practice,” Elliott said, adding that the team spent two practice shoveling snow off the field so they could play on it. “There’s lots of good stuff from tonight we can build on.”
Willis scored her first goal just two minutes in, bouncing a shot off the ground and in to give Durango a 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Annabel Carithers capitalized on an 8-meter free shot, beating the goalie for a 2-0 lead.
DHS goalie Harvest Dobbins smothered a loose ball and blocked a close-range shot, but Telluride got on the scoreboard with 13:15 left in the half.
“Annabel and Emmy are a pretty hot offensive combo,” Elliott said.
The coach also gave his defenders kudos.
“Jaden Rambo in my opinion is the best defender in the league,” Elliott said. “Lexi (Wold) is also a captain; they’re stalwarts on defense.”
Pearl Burbey and Victoria Barletta followed with goals to give Durango a 4-1 lead, but Telluride got a goal in the final 30 seconds of the half to go into the break only trailing 4-2.
The Demons came out strong in the second half. Carithers made a good run to start play, but her shot hit the post. The Demons, however, maintained possession on the play and Willis was able to bury another shot.
Less than a minute later, Willis got the ball around midfield and took it deep into Telluride territory. Despite a Miner right on her hip, Willis scored again to give Durango a 6-2 lead.
After Telluride missed an 8-meter free shot, Barletta scored from a tough angle for the Demons to give Durango its biggest lead of the game, 7-2.
Dobbins saved several close shots down the stretch, but Telluride was able to rally, scoring a couple of its goals with Demons right in their face.
The start of the game was pushed back an hour, but the delay enabled the teams to play their entire game under the lights.
“It was pretty special for the girls,” Elliott said. “Friday night lights aren’t just for the boys.” The coach said he couldn’t remember Durango lacrosse playing under the lights before Friday.
The Demons won’t have much time to dwell on the opening loss. Durango will be back in action at 11 a.m. Saturday when the team takes on Santa Fe Prep. It will be team’s final home game until April 28 against Montrose.
The Demons will begin the road stretch against Aspen Tuesday in Grand Junction.
Durango has 28 girls out this season, which is twice as many as last year. Twelve of the 14 girls who played last year are also back to lead the team.
“Lacrosse seems to be growing in town at the youth level,” Elliott said, noting that the team has good crops of freshmen the past two seasons.
Grand Junction, which went undefeated in the 4A Mountain West League last year, will be the team to beat again this year.
“Grand Junction is the only team that beat us twice last year,” Elliott said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how we stack up against them.”
Durango will also play some nonleague teams it hasn’t played before this season, like Roaring Fork.
“It will be nice to get some out of league competition and see how the rest of the state plays and give us something to expect when we make the playoffs,” Elliott said.
