Most of Durango High School girls lacrosse team’s games haven’t been close this year, but Saturday’s game against Grand Junction was the first time Durango didn’t come out on top of a game like that, losing 13-9 at home.
Grand Junction came into the game looking like a team that desperately wanted its first win of the season, especially after losing to Durango the day before. The Tigers dominated the draw and possession. They found open space around the Durango goal for high-percentage shots, and in the blink of an eye, Grand Junction was by eight goals at the half.
The Demons responded in the second half, led by a fantastic offensive performance by freshman Janelle Dingler, but Durango had three players disqualified with two yellow cards, and Durango’s comeback attempt was too little too late.
“We’re never going to give up,” Durango head coach Eric Elliot said. “We played the entire second half down at least one person because of too many cards … half of the fourth quarter, we were down three people. To score goals down three people, it says a lot about my kids.”
Durango dropped to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the 4A Mountain West League. Dingler led the Demons with seven goals, which is the highest single-game goal total in at least three years. Junior Indie Eaton added two goals and an assist, and junior goalie Jody Holden finished with seven saves for the Demons.
Grand Junction improved to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the 4A Mountain West League. Scarlett Roberts, Alexia Campbell and Zoey Ross each had four goals for the Tigers.
Dingler got the scoring started for the Demons with a free shot with 7:02 left in the first. The Demons had some decent looks early, but struggled with their accuracy. Grand Junction responded with its own free-shot goal and had a great check near the Durango goal for a turnover, leading to an easy goal and a 3-1 lead with 3:20 left in the first for the Tigers.
Grand Junction led 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. The Demons weren’t as sharp as they were on Friday, missing passes that could’ve led to goals and not grabbing as many ground balls.
“We weren’t being smart with our possessions, and we were trying to force a bunch of stuff we didn’t need to force,” Elliot said. “I told the girls at the beginning of the game that Grand Junction is a great team, their record is not indicative of what they are.”
The second quarter was all Grand Junction. The Tigers dominated possession as the game got more physical, and the Demons got two yellow cards, resulting in Grand Junction playing a man-up. The Tigers found a lot of space around the goal, leading to easy shots. Grand Junction scored five unanswered goals in the second quarter to take a 9-1 lead into halftime.
Durango came out of halftime looking like its undefeated self, with Dingler and Eaton scoring two goals. However, Grand Junction’s offense was humming, scoring three of the next four goals to reestablish the lead.
Dingler was the primary offensive force for the Demons, especially in the second half. She was the only Demon who could slice through the Tigers’ defense like a warm knife through butter. A quick scoring splurge at the end of the quarter cut Grand Junction’s lead to 12-7 going into the fourth.
“She put it on her shoulders,” Elliot said about Dingler. “I couldn’t be happier with her performance. She played well beyond her freshman classification, that’s for sure.”
The game slowed down in the fourth as Holden stepped up with a few nice saves. Dingler scored her seventh, and Eaton scored at the buzzer to cut the margin to four.
Elliot was happily surprised with how much his team scored in the second half while they were dealing with foul trouble. He was happy to see his team moving off the ball again, unlike the first half.
The Demons will try to get their first 5A win at Legend on Friday at 5 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
