The Durango High School girls lacrosse team has one more home game on its schedule, but the Demons didn’t want to wait any longer to honor their five seniors with senior day celebrations Tuesday at DHS Stadium.
And the Demons had plenty to celebrate thanks to an 11-5 victory against Telluride.
“I think because we did it a few games early, it helps us appreciate the team even more,” DHS senior Joie Raybourn said of having senior day. “I kept thinking, ‘Thank goodness I still have three more games with these girls because I don’t know what I’m going to do without them.’
“Because we’re such a small team, it makes you that much closer to your teammates and makes it that much harder to even think about leaving.”
Durango’s seniors – Kylee Cosse, Alix Gillen, Maria Jimenez, Raybourn and Grace Weaver – have been key factors in helping bring the Demons together under first-year head coach Natalie Mitchell and have helped spark the team’s current three-game winning streak.
“All five seniors were tremendous helps, especially when I first started coaching and didn’t know any of the girls yet,” Mitchell said. “They are all great leaders and actually ran practice the other day on their own. All the girls said it was super successful. They all lead by example and are also good vocal leaders. We didn’t really pick team captains this year, and that’s because we didn’t need to because the leadership came naturally.”
The Demons took control right away against Telluride. They won the opening faceoff with the ball falling to Gwyneth Irwin, who ran straight at the Telluride goal and scored to give DHS a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the game.
The quick goal set the tone for the Demons, who put constant pressure on Telluride’s defense.
DHS (4-8) pushed its lead to 3-0 after a pair of quick goals from Riley Garcia and Autumn Rymerson with about 17 minutes remaining in the first half.
A couple minutes after Rymerson’s goal, the junior struck again when she received a pass from Kiara Valley in front of goal and fired it past the Telluride keeper for a 4-0 lead.
“The 4-0 lead started us off with good energy,” Mitchell said. “We started at the end of warmups really getting our energy up and getting pumped to go. Those first four goals right off the bat really set the pace for the game. We were able to get a lot of girls in and rotate them through just like last game and it led to great success.”
A full bench and frequent substitutions wasn’t a luxury the Miners (4-4) had, as the team did not have any reserves available for the game.
“That’s been a frequent thing for us this entire season and it’s something we struggle with and something we fight for,” Telluride head coach Lindsey Mills said of being shorthanded.
It also led to the Miners playing a bit timid at times, thanks to the aggressive and physical style of play the Demons have built their reputation around.
“We’re able to intimidate them,” Jimenez said. “It kind of makes them back up and rethink if they want to drive down and try to score or pass. There were a couple moments in the beginning of the game when their passes were going over their girls because that aggressiveness will basically shut them down.”
Telluride got its first goal midway through the first half, with Naomi Ramirez finding the net.
DHS added goals from Raybourn and Valley, and Telluride’s Kennadie Minerich scored twice for the Miners to send the game to halftime with DHS in front 6-3.
The second half started with another quick DHS goal, this one coming from Rachel Flora a few minutes into the half. Telluride responded with a goal from Anna Krownapple with about 17:30 to go in the half, but DHS got the lead back to four goals when Weaver scored about 30 seconds after Krownapple’s goal for an 8-4 lead.
A few minutes later, Raybourn broke through the middle of the Telluride defense and netted her second goal of the day.
With about 11 minutes remaining, Weaver knocked the ball loose from a Telluride defender and took it in for an easy goal.
Minerich netted one more goal for Telluride, and Valley added her second goal in garbage time to bring the game to the 11-5 final.
“Our team stayed very composed throughout the entire game, and that’s something we can take pride in,” Mills said. “We’re a disciplined team that knows how to settle in on offense, and that’s when we can capitalize. Durango is a very aggressive team and that’s something we don’t frequently run into in this league.”
The Demons will be back at home for the last time this season to host Battle Mountain on Saturday.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
