The Durango girls lacrosse team doesn’t get a lot of home games partly because Front Range teams don’t want to travel down to Durango. But the Demons plan to change that this season by winning their league and hosting a playoff game.
Durango finished the 2024 season 7-8 overall and third in the 4A Mountain League at 5-3. The Demons lost on the road in the first round of the 4A state playoffs.
From that team, the Demons lost a huge contributor to graduation in Annabel Carithers, who led the team with 44 points (goals and assists). Emmylou Willis also graduated after contributing 17 points.
But the Demons return their goalie, three of their top four scorers, some top defenders and many contributors from last year’s team.
“Since I've been coaching, we've never had a real serious, unreplaceable graduation loss,” Durango head coach Eric Elliot said. “So we're returning a lot of players that most of these girls, if they weren't starters as freshmen, they played starters minutes since they were a freshman … We have a lot of experience. All the girls have learned from some pretty good mentors all the way through and now it's their time to pass it on.”
Durango returns its top scorer from last year in senior Sofia Naffziger. Elliot said she’s spent a lot of time working on her stick skills and developing a pump fake.
Junior Taylor Babcock and senior Silvie Bosmans also return after Babcock was the third leading scorer last year and Bosmans was the fourth.
“A big focus on our offense this year is we're going to have multiple people going; her (Naffziger) and Silvie Bosmans, have really picked up their ability to find that open cutter and that's going to pay off,” Elliot said. “In the past, we did a lot of standing around and watching off-ball. So far, our focus has really been if you're an off-ball player, you need to be doing something; you need to be moving and we're sending multiple cutters.”
Elliot also said the experience the seniors have together will help the offense. Most of the seniors have played together since fourth grade and they have developed a lot of nonverbal communication.
The Demons also have some younger speedsters that can help with dodging in a one-on-one scenario and starting transition offense. Sophomores Teagan Frausto and Indie Eaton gained a lot of valuable playing time and confidence as freshmen. Elliot wants those two to push the pace in transition and helped the Demons score against unsettled defenses.
While the offense has a lot of intriguing returning pieces, so does the defense. Senior goalkeeper Fiona Chandler returns after starting for the last three seasons for the Demons; she has a 55% save percentage and 369 career saves.
Elliot expects junior Scarlett Ramsey to play a big role on defense. He said she’s really found a home for herself on that side of the field. Senior Kyana Newcomer-Ball and junior Laurel Dondlinger have been staples on defense for the Demons’ program and will take a lot of pressure off Chandler. Elliot likes Eliciana Martinez’s speed and said she’s battling for a starting spot.
Durango’s defenders have the freedom to push the ball into the offensive end and make things happen, according to Elliot.
The Demons were supposed to begin their season with a road game at Santa Fe Prep last Saturday, but the game was rescheduled. Therefore, Durango will open its season on the road against Montrose on Thursday.
Last season, the Demons finished third in the 4A Mountain West League behind Fruita Monument and Grand Junction. Durango will face both of those teams twice along with Montrose and Telluride twice for league play.
Durango will challenge itself in the nonleague schedule with games at defending state champion Evergreen and Denver South.
“I like playing those bigger schools; the Denver school system really has a pretty good feeder program,” Elliot said. “A lot of those schools have a freshman team, a JV and a varsity … It's always good to play that next-level competition … So it'll be nice to get some Front Range experience and hopefully, playing those teams will allow us to host another playoff game this year … Winning our league and hosting a playoff game are our goals this year. That's been our goal for the last three years. We always have a pretty good battle between us, Fruita and Grand Junction. This year, it's our year.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
