After a loss at Denver South last weekend, the Durango High School girls lacrosse team got back into the win column this weekend at home against Fruita Monument. The Demons won 10-9 in overtime on Friday and 8-6 on Saturday.
“I couldn't be happier with what I saw this weekend,” Durango girls lacrosse head coach Eric Elliot said. “They put in maximum effort. We had that goal of winning our league. This takes a big step toward that for us.”
Durango improved to 6-2 overall and 6-1 in the 4A Mountain West League. Fruita fell to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the 4A Mountain League.
The Demons are first in the league with one league game against Telluride left.
It was a back-and-forth affair on Friday. Fruita scored first but neither team could pull away. Durango had a late lead, but Fruita tied it up with about a minute left. Elliot said the Demons had a good possession late in regulation to win the game but they couldn’t hit the shot.
In overtime, junior Taylor Babcock had the game-winner for the Demons. She finished with two goals, as did senior Silvie Bosmans.
Sophomore Teagan Frausto led the Demons with four goals and an assist. Elliot said the coaching staff and Frausto’s teammates have seen her talent in practice but Elliot had been waiting for that to translate into games.
A unique situation occurred in the first game with senior goalie Fiona Chandler not playing the entire game. At halftime, Chandler had given up six goals and only had two saves. She went to Elliot and told him that it wasn’t her day and to put in backup sophomore goalie Jody Holden.
Holden stepped in between the pipes in the second half and had two saves while giving up three goals.
“It really speaks a lot to Fiona and her leadership over the last couple of years that she was willing to do that,” Elliot said. “Jody, she's a sophomore, and last year was her first year playing goalie, and she really didn't get a lot of minutes … she stepped up and she bent a little bit, she let one go by her pretty quick … Then she settled right down and made all the big saves when we needed them the most.”
On Saturday, the Demons won 8-6 with a balanced scoring attack. Sophomore Indie Eaton, Frausto, Babcock and Bosmans each had two goals. Elliot is happy with his team’s offensive versatility at this point of the season and said any player can go off on any night.
Chandler played the entire game on Saturday and finished with six saves.
Elliot said a key to the second victory was two Fort Lewis College women’s lacrosse players’ input in practice before the games. Skyhawks senior Diamond Velasco and Elliot’s daughter, senior Allie Elliot, came to practice to give some tips, tricks and tactics to the Demons.
“They showed up at the beginning of the game, too, before they had to run to theirs,” Elliot said. “It really helped my girls having those two on the sideline and in practice for a couple of days, giving some pointers and talking in a way that I'm just not able to get across. Everybody likes to go to prom and it's even better to go to prom as a winner. They were pretty focused on that.”
Durango plays at Evergreen on Friday at 4 p.m.
Baseball continues winning ways against Grand Junction Central
The Durango baseball team’s consistent hitting helped the Demons overcome an early deficit on Saturday against Grand Junction Central. The Demons beat the Warriors 12-5 for their fifth consecutive win.
Durango improved to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League, while Grand Junction Central fell to 3-10 overall and 0-2 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.
Grand Junction Central led 4-2 after two innings. But the Demons, scoring in every inning, caught up with three runs in the third to lead 5-4.
Outhitting the Warriors 13-9, Durango outscored Grand Junction Central 7-1 the rest of the game.
Senior Jack Englund had a productive day, going 3-4 at the plate while pitching six innings and giving up eight hits, five runs and finishing with five strikeouts.
Juniors Dawson McInnes and Austin Romero finished with two hits each.
Durango hits the road to play two games at Pagosa Springs on Tuesday with the first game beginning at 3 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
