The Durango High School girls lacrosse team got into the win column on Saturday with a 10-8 victory over Santa Fe Prep at DHS. On Tuesday, however, the team fell to perennial power Aspen, 18-3, at a neutral field in Grand Junction.
Defense was key in the team’s win over Santa Fe Prep.
“The story of the day was our starting defense of Lexi Wold, Jaden Rambo, Nellie Miller and Alison Ballou,” said DHS head coach Eric Elliott. “They did a great job of keeping Santa Fe out of the (critical scoring area) most of the game and taking the pressure off Harvest (Dobbins), who stood tall in goal. Eliciana (Martinez) rotated in throughout the game to spell our starting four and really put in some quality work. Victoria (Barletta) and Annabel (Carithers) from the midfield position also played exceptional defense, picking up 13 ground balls between them.”
“Our defense could really be summed up by the last play of the game,” Elliott continued. “Santa Fe got an 8-meter free shot. Nellie cut the shooter off, while Lexi checked the ball from her stick (and) as time expired the ball lay on the turf.”
Elliott said the team started a little flat, but Pearl Burbey scored to give the Durango a spark, and Emmylou Willis and Barletta followed with goals.
The Griffins answered with five straight goals, but Willis picked up a second goal, helping ignite Barletta. Barletta scored her second goal a few seconds later. In the final minutes of the first half, Barletta scored her third goal after Lucy Halverstadt got her the ball with “a beautiful assist,” the coach said, giving the Demons some momentum heading into the second half.
Burbey and Willis started the scoring in the second with goals in the opening minutes. Wold then picked up a ground ball from deep in Durango territory, ran it the full length of the field and scored with a clean shot to cap a 3-goal run for DHS that put Santa Fe Prep on its heels.
The coach said Santa Fe Prep had a bit of run later in the half, but a Martinez interception ended the threat. Willis and Burbey then both added their third goals of the game to finish the scoring.
Carrithers led the team with eight ground balls. Wold had seven, Barletta had five and Rambo had four.
In Tuesday’s game with Aspen, the Skiers got off to a strong start before the Demons eventually clamped down.
“They hit us really fast and put us on our heels right away,” Elliott said. “Then we settled down, but they just overwhelmed us with their passing attack.”
Willis, Burbey and Carithers scored in the loss for Durango.
“It’s how you respond after that matters,” the coach said.
Durango (1-2) will next play Fruita Monument (0-1) in Fruita on Friday.
