At the beginning of the Durango High School girls’ lacrosse game against Eagle Valley on Friday, a snow flurry blew in and made it so you couldn’t see the lines on the DHS field. After the sun peaked through for a bit, the snow returned in force near the end of the game.
Much like the snow, Durango’s offense also came in flurries on Friday. With four unanswered goals in the final 10 minutes, however, DHS was able to overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Devils, 10-9.
“I think they finished great,” said DHS head coach Eric Elliot. “I’ll never question their hearts, and they showed it tonight, for sure.”
The Demons came out strong and scored three goals right away in the contest.
Eagle Valley, however, responded with some goals of its own and the teams went into halftime tied.
DHS started the second half by scoring the first two goals, but Elliot said Eagle Valley came screaming back to take the lead.
“We weren’t consistent and went in bursts,” the coach said.
Down the stretch, however, DHS got some big plays on both sides of the field. Annabel Carithers scored her second goal of the game to cut Eagle Valleys lead to 9-7 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Sofia Naffsinger then scored her third goal of the contest, making it a one-goal game with 5:47 on the clock.
“Sofia had another big game for us,” Elliot said.
Less than two minutes later, Victoria Barletta bounced a shot off the ground and in to tie the game 9-9.
Eagle Valley attacked late, but Durango’s defense held. Jaden Rambo hustled back to stop a breakaway opportunity. Barletta then forced a turnover with a good back check.
In the final minute, DHS had the ball behind Eagle Valley’s goal and found Silvie Bosmans open in front. Bosmans, who had already scored twice on the day, capitalized and put DHS ahead by one, 10-9, with her hat trick.
“Silvie came out of a cannon today,” Elliot said. “That was probably her most offensive game in two years.”
The coach also said DHS might have had more assists on Friday than all of last season.
“We’ve been working on that and out stick skills,” he said.
With the final seconds ticking off the clock, Eagle Valley’s Isabelle Thomas found Gracie Nestlerode open and Nestlerode fired a shot into Durango’s goal, but it left her stick just after the final buzzer so it didn’t count.
For the most part, goalie Fiona Chandler made it hard for the Devils to score all game.
“I can’t say enough about Fiona and the job she did,” Elliot said. “She had another good game in goal.”
The win was Durango’s fist of the season, moving DHS to 1-2 overall. Eagle Valley slid to 2-4.
Snow has challenged DHS throughout the spring. The coach said they intended to practice more during the spring break, but the weather was so bad they only held one practice. Several of the team’s players also went on vacations, arriving back in Durango just before game time.
Elliot said he hopes the team can four good practices in this week before heading to New Mexico for a trio of games this weekend. DHS will play Santa Fe Prep on Friday and then Pueblo West and Duke City on Saturday, all in Santa Fe.
After the trip, DHS will dive into its 4A Mountain West league season.
