Everything was clicking for the Fort Lewis College women’s lacrosse team, scoring in bunches in the first half to put away Colorado State University-Pueblo and earn a trip to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women’s lacrosse tournament.
The Skyhawks got four goals from senior Sara McMahon as FLC beat CSU-Pueblo, 15-8.
“We have been working on our plays,” said McMahon. “We were working on off-ball movement, and moving the ball quickly so I think that helped us a lot.”
Allison Wurscher broke open the game by scoring the first goal for the ThunderWolves. After the initial goal, FLC then proceeded to score three consecutive goals from Brooke Galle, Kelli Warmouth and Ellie Carpenter. Allye Webb added a goal for the ThunderWolves to make the score 3-2 with 16 minutes to play in the first half.
The Skyhawks then broke play wide open by scoring seven goals in a row to head into halftime with a 10-3 lead.
“This feels so good, we knew what this game meant,” said FLC head coach Julia Decker. “We have been talking all year about making the RMAC tournament and winning the RMAC tournament and making the NCAAs, so this was definitely on our list of things to do. Our goals were set high so I’m just glad that we’ve been able to elevate our play over the last couple of weeks.”
The second half saw the ThunderWolves play more aggressive, which caused a mini-comeback. While FLC extended its lead to 12-4 midway through the second half, CSU-Pueblo then scored three consecutive goals to pull the score to 12-7.
The ThunderWolves did their best to swing the momentum towards their side, but Decker called a timeout with four minutes remaining in regulation to collect her FLC players.
“We just talked about finishing until the end and taking care of the ball and running out the clock,” said Decker.
The timeout didn’t stop the ThunderWolves from going hard themselves until the end. Leah Neumann scored for the ThunderWolves to pull the score to 13-8, but the Skyhawks stalled to end the game.
“It was pretty intense,” said McMahon. “They’re a good team and they were coming back. We just had to work harder. It gets really intense when you start thinking about what’s at stake so we just pushed and gave it all and left it on the field.”
FLC’s Jam Vertner finished the game with two goals and three assists, Taylor Cabrera had two goals and two assists while Ryann Pierce, Carpenter and Galle scored two goals each.
Fort Lewis caused 22 CSU-Pueblo turnovers and holding the ThunderWolves to only 20 shots. The Skyhawks also controlled the draws, winning that category 15-9. The Skyhawk aggressive defense was overzealous and was called for 24 fouls, and saw Pierce, McMahon and Natalie Mitchell all get a yellow card.
Alyssa Spencer got the win at goalkeeper by making seven big saves. She currently has a record of 7-5. Though the Skyhawks’ offense played a huge role in extending its season, it was the defense and solid play in the net that led the year.
“Alyssa has had a great couple of games this weekend,” said Decker. “She comes up with some big saves. We talked about being on our toes today. I think our defense has been so solid all year long. Over the last couple of weeks is when our offense has elevated their level of play so it’s nice to be able to put it all together towards the end of the season like this.”
The top four teams in the RMAC make the conference tournament. Fort Lewis (7-5, 3-3 RMAC) sat in fifth place heading into Sunday’s game, and CSU-Pueblo (8-7, 3-3 RMAC) had the fourth spot. Both of these teams met to start the season with FLC coming out on top, 14-8.
That game did not count for or against either team’s RMAC record so Sunday’s game was that much more crucial. Both teams finished with a 3-3 record, but with FLC winning Sunday, the Skyhawks hold the tie-breaker.
This is CSU-Pueblo’s second year as a Division II lacrosse program. Former FLC assistant coach, and current CSU-Pueblo head coach Monica Potter, has connections still with the current FLC seniors her team faced on Sunday.
“They’re just a great team, they’re patient, they’re fast, and they have quick stick skills,” said Potter. “We’re really young, we’re still trying to work out our little kinks of forcing the ball when we shouldn’t. Our defense played great.”
Fort Lewis has one more game left on the regular schedule as Adams State (0-9, 0-4 RMAC) will visit Ray Dennison Memorial Field at 3 p.m. on Friday.
According to Decker, she will not rest her players, but wants to use the final game as an opportunity to work on tactics with the core group of starters in a live setting.
Despite it being senior day, FLC will practice and continue its momentum heading into the RMAC tournament, which will begin May 5.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
