After losing their first game to Grand Junction this spring 10-8, Annabel Carithers and her Durango High School lacrosse teammates were ready from the opening whistle in Thursday’s rematch at DHS.
“She was almost too aggressive; she got a yellow in the first 20 seconds,” DHS head coach Eric Elliot said about Carithers.
Carithers calmed down as the game wore on, but her stick stayed hot. Carithers ended up scoring six goals against the Tigers, three in each half, to help lead DHS to a 12-8 win and a season split with Grand Junction.
“She was a dominate force in today’s game, as usual,” Elliot said. “Her and Vikki (Barletta), those two always set the tone for us and they’re unselfishness enough not to care who does it.”
The Demons took an early lead on Thursday and then finished strong to get the win.
Grand Junction cut Durango’s lead to two, 5-3, late in the first half, but Barletta responded with a goal in the final minute to send DHS into the break with a 6-3 lead.
To start the second half, the two teams combined for four goals in a about a three-minute span.
Carithers got the scoring going 1:41 into the half, extending DHS’ lead to 7-3.
After a Junction goal, Silvie Bosmans provided an answer for DHS with a free-position goal a minute later.
Despite goalie Fiona Chandler making several stops, including two on free positions, Grand Junction scored the next two goals to make the score 8-6.
“We’ve classically let some leads slip away from us,” Elliot said. “I think now these girls have enough confidence that their heads aren’t down when teams creep back in.”
Instead of hanging their heads, DHS responded with two goals from Carithers. Carithers fired a spinning shot into the net with 10:06 remaining. Two minutes later, she made a long run by herself and buried a shot to extend Durango’s lead to four.
The Tigers kept battling and netted the next two goals, but the Demons answered with another pair of scores, from Sofia Naffsinger and Emmylou Willis, to end the comeback attempt and get the win.
“We played exactly like we needed to,” Elliot said. “We’ve been preaching dominance and team play the last two weeks and we’re obviously gelling at the right time.”
Willis also scored a first-half goal to finish with two goals while Taylor Babcock scored one.
In addition to getting goals when it needed, Elliot called Durango’s transition defense “stifling” in the game.
“Once again, our defenders Jaden (Rambo), Kai (Newcomer-Ball), Livi (Rome) and Leci (Martinez) played amazing,” Elliot said. “They were picking up everything.”
With the win, Durango improved to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in the 4A Mountain West. Grand Junction slipped to 4-6, 2-3.
On Saturday, DHS will have another league game at Telluride (3-1, 2-1) to begin a busy week. Telluride is currently second in the league behind Fruita Monument (6-3, 4-0).
“That’s always a contested battle,” Elliot said. “It’s a healthy rivalry and it’s pretty fun.”
DHS will play again at Telluride on Wednesday before hosting Montrose (0-7, 0-4) at 4 p.m. Friday and Fruita at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Wildcats beat DHS 12-9 in their first meeting. The coach said it would have been nice if DHS would have beaten Grand Junction and Fruita the first time around, but was happy with how the Demons are playing now.
“We’re staring to heat up at just the right time,” Elliott said. “We’re more than capable of clawing our way to the top.”
