Ellie Carpenter showed some skin and some toughness.
The Fort Lewis College women’s lacrosse junior midfielder eschewed sleeves in muggy conditions Friday while most of her Skyhawks teammates and opposing Adams State players opted for Under Armour.
Carpenter flexed her muscles and scoring prowess, putting four shots into the Grizzlies’ net and leading FLC to a 16-5 win to close out the regular season at Ray Dennison Memorial field.
“I feel like we’re used to it. Most of our practices our pretty cold, especially in the fall going into winter,” Carpenter said. “I feel like a lot of the midfielders didn’t have (sleeves) on because we do a lot of running, and I thought this game was going to be a lot of running. We want to really push toward goal. I’d rather be cold than hot.”
Adams State (1-11, 1-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) could do little to stop the Skyhawks’ push to goal in the game’s opening moments.
FLC (9-4, 4-2 RMAC) scored the game’s first 10 goals, and its first six goals came from six different players. Ten different Skyhawks scored on the day.
“I love that. That’s one of the best things about this team is we’re so balanced,” FLC head coach Julia Decker said. “Anybody can step up and be the leading scorer on any given day.”
Carpenter carried the stick Friday, but Sarah McMahon added a hat trick with three goals. FLC also had four assists from four different players.
“We’ve really been preparing ourselves the last couple weeks on connecting and connecting our passes,” McMahon said.
The Skyhawks started a running clock with a 10-goal lead three separate times, starting with Carpenter’s third goal of the game with nine minutes left in the first half.
Adams State’s Kendra Cheda stopped the clock with the Grizzlies’ first goal of the game with nine seconds left in the first half.
FLC switched goalies, from Ally Guerrero to Brie Walker at halftime. Guerrero made four saves and allowed one goal in the first half, while Walker allowed four goals and made three saves in the second half.
“We had a pretty strong lead at half, so we wanted to get everybody some playing time,” Decker said.
Now that he regular season is over, FLC has shifted its entire attention to the RMAC Tournament on May 2 in Denver. The Skyhawks are the No. 3 seed and will play No. 2 Regis in the opening round.
“We’re ready for revenge on Regis. Every time we play them we get closer to them in points,” Carpenter said. “I feel like this next time is going to be the time.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com