The Fort Lewis College women’s lacrosse team took its shot at one of the best teams in the country Thursday afternoon as No. 2 Lindenwood came to the rim.
The Lions (5-0, 2-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) scored early and often as Lindenwood used 14 unanswered goals from the fourth minute of the match to the 33rd to build a comfortable lead en route to a 20-4 win.
Ryann Pierce had two goals to lead Fort Lewis (1-3, 1-1 RMAC). Lindenwood’s Rachel Benzing scored four goals and Sophie Buelow had three to lead the Lions.
“I think any time you’re playing a ranked team, it’s going to be a challenge,” Fort Lewis head coach Julia Decker said. “I thought we fought hard and I thought we got better as the game went on. We made some adjustments and created opportunities, but we just weren’t able to finish them as often as we’d like.”
The Lions got on the board first with an early goal, but FLC’s Taylor Cabrera came right back with one of her own to tie the score. Division II’s second-ranked team responded with a series of goals that quickly showed which squad was superior. Rachel Benzing scored the first of four first, half goals to give the Lions a 2-1 lead. The juggernaut Lindenwood squad out of St. Charles, Missouri, fired 24 shots at FLC starting goalkeeper Daris Wienk and led 14-1 at halftime.
By the time Delaney Benson scored the second FLC goal, the Skyhawks had allowed 14 in a row and trailed 15-2. Ryann Pierce scored Fort Lewis’ third goal of the game moments later, and added the fourth tally in the final minutes, but the damage was already done.
“I was getting kind of frustrated being down and they were saying some stuff out there that got me fired up,” Pierce said. “I thought it was kind of rude. We came together at halftime and I think we did a better job in the second half. Hopefully, we got some more respect from them in the end.”
Wienk made two saves in the first period and second-half goalkeeper Alyssa Spencer made three as the Skyhawks allowed only 10 shots in the final 30 minutes.
Fort Lewis will try to bounce back at 1 p.m. Saturday as it hosts the league’s last place team, Oklahoma Baptist (2-5, 0-3 RMAC).
“We’ve played some good teams here to start the season, and I think the girls can take a lot away from that,” Decker said. “Playing teams like this helps us a lot. We want to be right there with them, and playing teams of this caliber will certainly help us the rest of the season.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
