The Fort Lewis College lacrosse failed to do the little things well in Friday afternoon’s home-opener at Ray Dennison Memorial Field against Westminster College in a crucial Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game, and it came back to bite the Skyhawks, as the Griffins closed the game on a 5-1 run to win 13-10.
The Skyhawks (1-4, 1-3 RMAC) committed 22 turnovers, 14 of them were caused by the Griffins’ defense, and Westminster also had an 18-7 edge in draw controls.
“The difference was us not executing the fundamentals well, and it was the same story when we lost to Rockhurst,” said FLC head coach Sean Claussen. “If we’re giving the ball away, not hitting our teammates on basic passes and throwing them over our heads and out of bounds, we’ll never win games like that.
“It sucks to go into the locker room where you know you should have won, and two or three decisions that we didn’t do correctly, maybe they were tired decisions, but either way, it came back to bite us in the butt.”
Allena Wolfblack scored three goals for the Skyhawks, while Mia White and Delaney Benson scored two goals each. Abby Escandon added a goal and four assists.
Westminster (2-6, 2-2 RMAC) scored four consecutive goals to take a 6-3 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half, but the Skyhawks would not go down quietly, as they rattled off three goals to knot the score at six with 43 seconds remaining in the half. Wolfblack scored her third goal to tie it at 6-6, but Audree Erekson scored unassisted with just 13 seconds left to give the Griffins a 7-6 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Eden Freiberg gave the Griffins the lead for good with a goal with 13:11 left, and while Rachel Hurst brought it within a one-goal game for FLC with five mintues to go, Madie Ingman scored with 2:47 left to make it a 12-10 lead, and Freiberg added the icing on the cake with her fifth goal of the afternoon 38 seconds later to make it 13-10.
Mikala Anderson had 12 saves for Westminster, while Daris Wienk had 13 for the Skyhawks.
Claussen knows his team is in jeopardy of missing the RMAC Tournament for the first time in program history but still believes there’s plenty of lacrosse to play.
“We have to put this behind this and get ready for UCCS, and we’ve got to bust our butts off to get into the RMACS,” Claussen said. “These two games, today and against Rockhurst, we know we’re the better team, we just didn’t show up on that day. If we get in, I know we want to see these teams again and I think we’d be able to correct our mistakes.”
The Fort Lewis College volleyball program added another transfer to the roster after Courtney Laliberte signed her National Letter of Intent to transfer from Glendale Community College to play her final two seasons for the Skyhawks.
“Courtney brings some great experience along with a physicality that we needed,” said FLC head coach Tricia Melfy. “She is a smart and dynamic player and we are excited to have her.”
Laliberte, originally from Sun City, Arizona, tallied 76 kills, 11 aces, 51 digs and 59 blocks as a middle blocker. During her freshman year, she recorded 237 kills, 21 aces. 55 digs and 46 blocks.
Laliberte is one of five who will be transferring in to Fort Lewis to suit up for the Skyhawks next season, and joined teammate Alex Treguboff from Glendale.
bploen@durangoherald.com
