The Durango girls lacrosse team sent the team’s three seniors out in style with a convincing 14-7 win over Telluride on Tuesday night.
After the win, the Demons improved to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the 4A Mountain West League. Telluride fell to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the 4A Mountain West after the loss.
The Durango win snaps a three-game losing streak.
“It’s always nice beating Telluride,” Durango head coach Eric Elliot said. “It was more important we righted the ship. That three-game skid made practices tough and bus rides longer. Hopefully it gives us a confidence boost heading into Friday’s game against Santa Fe.”
Durango senior Annabel Carithers scored three goals to lead the Demons. Senior Emmylou Willis had two goals and junior Silvie Bosmans had two goals.
Demons sophomore Taylor Babcock opened up the scoring with a goal with 10:06 to go in the first. Telluride’s Maeve Stetina responded to tie the game at 1-1 with 8:34 left. Bosmans put the Demons up 2-1 with 1:04 to go in the first. Durango dominated possession in the first quarter.
After the Bosmans goal, the Demons quickly won the draw and Carithers got to the net and finished only 10 seconds later for a 3-1 lead.
Durango junior Sofia Naffziger had a nice roll doge toward the crease and scored to start the second quarter. Campbell Carter for Telluride responded to make it 4-2 with 8:19 left.
After a ground ball in the midfield, a Telluride midfielder took it the distance and scored on Durango junior goalie Fiona Chandler to make it 4-3 with 6:24 left in the second quarter.
The Demons quickly responded with a goal off a transition opportunity. Willis scored from close range to put Durango up 5-3 with 5:40 left. The Miners quickly won the draw and scored only 14 seconds later to make it 5-4.
Durango struggled on the draw in the second quarter which led to more Telluride possessions.
Willis had a shot from close range with about a minute left but the bouncer was saved. Chandler then made a nice save on a low shot off a shooting space call. Off that save, Carithers took it downfield and scored with 10 seconds left in the half to put the Demons up 6-4.
Bosmans opened up the third quarter with a spin and score to put the Demons up 7-4 with 10:07 to go.
Chandler made a nice save and threw a nice outlet pass to Bosmans who passed to Willis who drew a shooting space call. Willis then scored on the free shot to put the Demons up 8-4.
Junior Jordan Meininger quickly scored with the left hand on a low-angle shot to put Durango up 9-4 with 7:25 to go.
“I was screaming at them at halftime that the only thing that’s going to win this game is heart,” Elliot said. “The girls really answered the call coming out in the second half. That’s why we work as hard as we work in practice so that we have plenty left in the second half.”
Elliot also said the girls did a great job winning more draws than they have in recent games. Durango switched up who was taking the draws. The players decide who will take the draws, according to Elliot.
The Demons began to win some draws which opened up the transition offense. Carithers got the ball and sped toward the goal and finished only seven seconds after the previous goal to score and put Durango up 10-4. Freshman Teagan Frausto then found some space to put the Demons up 11-4.
Telluride scored two goals to cut the deficit to 11-6 before Indie Eaton raced toward goal off the draw and scored to put the Demons up 12-6 with a minute to go. Durango took a 12-7 lead into the fourth quarter.
“The future is bright for them,” Elliot said about Frausto and Eaton. “Indie comes from the hockey team so we haven’t had her for that long. She got back from nationals about a month ago. We have high hopes for them for the rest of the season and going into next year.”
In the fourth quarter, the pace slowed down and fewer shots were taken as the Demons emptied their bench and Telluride looked tired. Telluride couldn’t find any good looks and some timely Durango checks kept Telluride scoreless in the fourth.
Elliot said his team struggles to hold the ball so he plays the same style throughout the game and puts in bench players to play it when Durango has a big lead.
After the game, a senior night ceremony honoring Carithers, Willis and senior Lucy Halverstadt took place.
“From day one, Kevin (assistant coach Kevin Wold) and I preached a no one is going to outwork us mentality, a real blue-collar aspect to it,” Elliot said. “Last year’s seniors and this year’s seniors, they really adopted that. Thankfully they got to see the benefit of outworking people and why we work so hard in practice. They’ve done an excellent job of maintaining that standard.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
