The Durango High School girls lacrosse team split a pair of tight games in Grand Junction over the weekend, falling to Grand Junction High School 7-6 on Friday, but coming back Saturday to beat Monument, 12-11.
“We played our best lacrosse of the season this weekend, and with league play really starting to heat up it’s the perfect time for it,” said DHS head coach Eric Elliott. “Our players really work hard in practice, and you could really see it pay off as the clock wound down in each game. We were definitely the fresher team at the end of each game.”
Against Grand Junction, Durango rallied from 4-1 halftime deficit to get within one of the Tigers. In the final two minutes of the game, the Demons fired eight shots on goal, but none found the back of the net. The game ended as Chloe Bowen drove to the goal for a final shot attempt.
Annabel Carithers scored four goals to lead DHS. Victoria Bartletta, Olivia Rome and Sophia Kothe each scored once while Lucy Halverstadt recorded an assist.
The coach also said the team’s defense came up huge, noting that the Tigers had been consistently scoring in double digits.
Harvest Dobbins made five saves on nine shots, and Fiona Chandler made four stops on nine shots.
On Saturday, it was the Wildcats who went on the attack late to try and even up the game. Chandler, however, “had a monster save in the final seconds to seal it,” Elliott said.
Barletta scored four goals to lead DHS. She also had a 50% draw control while DHS won 64% of the total draws.
The coach said Kothe “had a breakout game,” scoring three goals “along with some solid defense from the midfield.”
Carithers scored two goals, Emmylou Willis scored twice and Bowen scored her first goal of the season.
Defensively, Lexi Wold forced four turnovers at some key times. “They always came whenever Fruita was starting to get some momentum,” Elliott said.
“We played two hard fought, fast paced games,” Elliott said. “We really utilized our bench. Freshman Eliciana Martinez played excellent on defense taking a charge to kill a scoring opportunity for Fruita. Freshman Silvia Bosmans, Kayana Newcomer-Ball, Willa Anderson and Dillon Aspen all stepped up playing great from the midfield and attack positions.”
DHS is now 4-3 overall, 2-2 4A Mountain West. Grand Junction (4-6, 4-0) leads the league while Fruita slipped to 2-6, 1-2.
The Demons will next play at league foe Telluride (3-3, 2-2) at 4 p.m. Friday.
