In the last two games, the Durango boys lacrosse defense struggled to curtail the Grand Junction offense. On Thursday, the Tigers dominated the third quarter of their game at Durango High School against the Demons and cruised to a 16-6 victory.
Durango fell to 2-9 overall and 1-7 in the 4A Mountain League with the loss. Grand Junction improved to 7-7 overall and 7-2 in the 4A Mountain League with the win.
Grand Junction beat Durango 19-6 at Grand Junction on April 20th.
“It was an improvement over last time,” Durango boys lacrosse coach Luke Miller said. “We did stuff to neutralize their man offense this time. We had a lot of guys being sick, injured and you could see the holes.”
Durango junior midfielder JT Munger had four goals. Sophomore attackman Bradin Gurule and freshman attackman Logan Muraro each had goals.
Demons freshman goalie Dante Devitre had 11 saves.
Miller was impressed with senior Owen Carozza’s play on defense. Carozza forced six turnovers.
Grand Junction sophomore Tristan Brinton had five goals and an assist. Freshman Paxton Webber had three goals and four assists. Junior Ryland Hewitt had three goals and two assists.
Tigers’ junior goalie Gordie Steidel had 15 saves.
“It’s tough, that’s a team with three attackmen that if they get the ball they score,” Miller said about Grand Junction. “They make you pay. They don’t make mistakes on their offensive end of the field. They move the ball and find the next guy.”
Durango and Grand Junction started off the game 1-1 before the Tigers scored two goals in a row to put Grand Junction up 3-1 with 6:21 to go in the first quarter.
Devitre made a great save and a beautiful outlet pass but Durango couldn’t score. Shortly after, the Demons went a man down and were able to kill the penalty. Durango then had an open goal but couldn’t convert. Grand Junction led 3-1 after the first quarter.
The Tigers opened up the scoring with a breakaway and finished low for a second time to put Grand Junction up 5-1 with nine minutes to go.
Durango had a man-up opportunity after an illegal body check by Grand Junction but the Demons couldn’t convert and Grand Junction scored when the game was at even strength.
Munger had a nice sidearm rip from distance which hit the top left corner. He cut the Durango deficit to 7-2 with less than four minutes to go. On the next man-up opportunity, Munger hit again from outside to make it 7-3 Grand Junction with 1:48 to go.
Durango really struggled on faceoffs and with ground balls which stymied any easy momentum the Demons could have in the first half.
Munger put the team on his back with another goal from a similar spot as the previous two. It hit the top of the net just over the goalie’s right shoulder to cut the deficit to 7-4.
The game got a little chippy at the end of the half as some body checks occurred with no penalties. A Demon player on the ground retaliated by whacking a player in the back of the legs which drew a penalty. Grand Junction scored a man-up goal with a nice bounce shot that put the Tigers up 8-4 right before the half. The Tigers struck again at the halftime buzzer to go up 9-4.
Devitre made a nice save to start the third quarter for Durango. A few minutes later the Tigers moved the ball around and Maddox Caster scored from the right side to put Grand Junction up 10-4 with 8:12 left in the third. Grand Junction scored 30 seconds later to push its lead to 11-4.
The Demons struggled to stay with the Grand Junction midfielders and attackers. This led to open passes for the Tigers. When the Demons did get the ball, they didn’t take care off it with sloppy passing or getting the ball checked out of their sticks.
Durango trailed 13-4 after three quarters.
Miller said other than Munger, due to injuries, it’s a young supporting cast that doesn’t have the confidence to dodge and score at all times.
In the fourth quarter, the Demons continued to struggle to maintain possession. When they did, Durango lacked shooters other than Munger who could challenge Steidel in goal. Durango did score a goal on a man-up opportunity by Muraro to cut the deficit to 16-5 with 5:32 left.
Munger found the back of the net with a minute to go to close the game.
The Demons are back in action at Montrose on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
