The Durango High School girls’ lacrosse team moved into second place in the 4A Mountain West with a 7-5 win at rival Telluride on Saturday.
“It’s always fun to play Telluride and every victory feels special,” said DHS head coach Eric Elliot. “Really happy with how the team has really gelled together at this point of the season.”
DHS improved to 5-5 overall and 3-2 in the league with the win while Telluride slipped to 3-4, 2-3. Fruita Monument (6-4, 4-0) lost 23-5 to Aspen its last time out, but still leads the league.
Against the Miners, Emmylou Willis helped Durango grab the momentum right away and take an early lead it never relinquished.
“Emmy started off the scoring inside the first minute, and we never looked backed from there,” Elliot said.
Willis finished with three goals to lead the Demons. Vikki Barletta, Annabel Carithers, Jordan Meininger and Taylor Babcock each scored one goal.
Sofia Naffsinger assisted two goals, including one to Meininger that helped seal the victory.
The Demons also did well in the draw circle, on defense and in transition to score the win.
“Vikki put on an exhibition in the draw circle today leading to Durango getting over 60% of the controls,” Elliot said. “Annabel managed to come up with five of her own despite being double teamed on the circle the entire game. Pretty tough for Telluride to mount much of an attack when they couldn’t get the ball.”
On defense, freshman Laurel Dondlinger filled in for senior Olivia Rome, who received a computer science award in Golden, and had two ground balls and caused four turnovers. Elliot said another newcomer, Stella James, also stepped up while Jaden, Rambo Eliciana Martinez and Kai Newcomer-Ball didn’t let anything go without being heavily contested. DHS caused 21 turnovers in the game, led by Dondlinger while Carithers, Barletta, Willis and Newcomer-Ball each caused three.
“Our defense was once again was a tough force,” Elliot said.
Keeping Telluride from switching quickly from defense to offense also helped DHS keep the Miners in check.
“Once again the key was our transition game, starting with sophomore attacker Sofia Naffsinger challenging the goalie on every clear,” Elliot said. “She really had their goalie just throwing up Hail Marys all afternoon which led to a season high 28 team ground balls.”
Silvie Bosmans, Barletta and Carithers each had five ground balls.
Goalie Fiona Chandler, meanwhile, saved seven of the 12 shots she faced.
Next, Durango will take on Telluride again in Telluride. The two teams were scheduled to square off on Wednesday, but the game has been postponed until Thursday due to snow.
“We are playing some really good team ball at the moment with a bunch of the freshman getting some good quality minutes and really performing well, which is really what we need as the season winds down,” Elliot said.
The DHS boys’ lacrosse team will also play Telluride twice in a row, beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday in Telluride. DHS will then host the Miners at 4 p.m. on Monday.
The Durango boys will enter Thursday’s game still searching for their first win of the season. DHS (0-9, 0-6 4A Mountain) lost 16-3 to Battle Mountain and 12-0 to Glenwood Springs in its two games last week. Telluride (5-3, 4-1), meanwhile, gave league-leading Fruita (7-4, 6-1) its first league loss on Saturday, 14-8.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Wednesday’s girls’ lacrosse game will be played in Durango. The game will be played in Telluride.
UPDATE: Due to snow in Telluride, the DHS girls lacrosse game against Telluride will now be played on Thursday in Telluride.
