Colorado Mesa hung around the Fort Lewis College lacrosse team like a pesky gnat, but the Skyhawks eventually swatted the Mavericks away.
Abby Kvidera and Jessica Norby scored three goals each to lead FLC (6-5, 3-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) to a 10-8 win against Colorado Mesa (5-4, 0-1 RMAC) on Sunday at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.
The Skyhawks’ win snapped a four-game losing streak dating back to March 22.
FLC hadn’t won since March 20 against non-conference opponent Albright College.
“It’s hard to go on a losing streak when you know you’re definitely a better team than that,” Norby said.
The Skyhawks didn’t get on the scoreboard for the first 11 minutes, 24 seconds of the game before Kvidera found the back of the net.
Norby scored 8½ minutes later to give FLC a 2-0 lead.
Colorado Mesa’s Ashley Eickhoff scored to start a goal tug-of-war that would continue for the next 21 minutes of game time.
Rachael Sutton scored for the Mavericks just before the halftime buzzer sounded to cut their deficit to 4-3.
“It could have (messed with us) easily, if we let it,” FLC head coach Kelsey MacDonald said. “That was the one thing we talked about at halftime – they have all the momentum. Let’s go out there, win the draw and score first, and that momentum’s gone.”
Brooke Wineland obliged.
She scored 19 seconds into the second half off an Ellie Carpenter assist to retake a two-goal lead.
Colorado Mesa’s Haley Kroll scored 1:14 later, and the teams alternated goals for the next 10 minutes.
“Them scoring gave us an opportunity to answer,” Kvidera said.
The Skyhawks took control of the game with three consecutive goals from Marissa DiCecco, Abby Kvidera and Ally Kvidera to open up a 10-6 lead with 11:32 remaining.
Kroll scored two more times on free position shots to bring the Mavericks within striking distance near the end of the game, but the Colorado Mesa’s momentum stalled after that.
“It has always been a tough game with them. Ever since our freshman year, it’s been neck and neck,” Norby said. “Normally we like to crush them on our home field, but they played really well.”
The Skyhawks outshot the Mavericks 31-25 and won the groundball battle 19-15.
They did, however, turn the ball over 13 times compared to 12 for the Mavericks.
FLC now has a week to prepare for its next game at 1 p.m. Friday against Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.) in Denver.
“We just need to continue to keep scoring, keep producing,” MacDonald said. “Defensively, I thought we did really well. We always are working on having less turnovers than the other team.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
