Eleven goals in 16 minutes wrapped up the home opener for Fort Lewis College in a hurry.
Playing at Ray Dennison Memorial Field for the first time this season, the Fort Lewis women’s lacrosse team showed the home fans what they’ve been missing so far with a commanding 18-2 victory against Oklahoma Baptist.
“Offensively, we had a ton of motion off the ball, and we were a huge threat with the ball as well,” FLC head coach Julia Decker said.
Fort Lewis (4-2, 1-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) stormed out to an early 3-0 lead before two goals from Alexis Martin got the Bison back in the game. But the Skyhawks didn’t allow another goal and went on an 11-0 run in the final 16 minutes, 11 seconds of the first half to claim a commanding lead.
Sophomore midfielder Taylor Cabrera had a big game with three goals and three assists for Fort Lewis. Sara McMahon, a senior attacker, led the team with four goals.
“They played a high pressure, but we swung the ball and found open people and took our opportunities,” Cabrera said.
McMahon used her height at 5-foot-10 to control play in the penalty area. She took a team-high eight shots.
Where Fort Lewis especially succeeded was transitioning from defense to attack with long passes coming from defenders up to midfielders to start fast-break scoring chances. The Skyhawks took advantage in two-on-one situations, found the open attacker and finished in front of goal with ease.
“They couldn’t keep up with us moving that fast, so we took advantage of the open girl,” McMahon said.
Fort Lewis senior Jam Vertner had another strong game with two goals and one assist, and she also collected two groundballs. She now has 10 goals this season.
Leading scorer Ellie Carpenter also added two goals to bring her season total to 19. She has scored at least two goals in every match this season.
Katlyne Duffey was a force on defense and collected a game-high five groundballs. FLC goalkeeper Alyssa Spencer, a Durango High School alumna, made five saves in 48 minutes of work while allowing only the two early goals.
“Our focus this week has been teamwork,” Decker said. “We took a couple of bad losses last week where we wanted to focus on working together on the defensive and offensive end so we weren’t so stagnant on our heels. We picked that up and worked together and connected on a rope defensively on our slides and were ready to help out.”
Nikki Fry also scored two goals for Fort Lewis. The Skyhawks also received one goal each from Ryann Pierce, Carly Smoke, Kelli Warmouth, Megan Longtain and Becky Salamon. Marissa DiCecco and Alyssa Montoya added assists.
Oklahoma Baptist fell to 3-4 overall with the loss. The Bison are in their first season at the NCAA Division II level and are expected to join the RMAC in lacrosse next season. Head coach Jordan Beech said the team struggled adjusting to altitude in a 22-4 loss Monday at Colorado Mesa. The Bison will finish a three-game road trip to Colorado at CSU-Pueblo on Friday.
“The competition is considerably better than what we were playing last year,” Beech said. “We’re excited to play all the (RMAC) teams and join the conference next year. It’s a good measuring stick, and I’ve been very impressed with the teams we’ve played so far.”
FLC will hit the road for three more RMAC games before returning home to close out the final five games of the regular season at home. All eight games will be played against conference foes, beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday at Regis in Denver.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
