Leah Vann/Steamboat Today
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The game was only close at the start. It didn’t take long for the Aspen High School girls lacrosse team to take full control over Steamboat Springs.
It was the first game of the season for the Sailors, and only the second time this season the team had seen a full-length field.
“As we keep playing, our conditioning will improve,” Steamboat Springs coach Amy Norris said. “This is a long field. With the practice situation earlier this season, we’re still catching up and I don’t think we played that bad.”
Aspen notched the opening goal in the contest. Steamboat Springs senior Riley Schott was quick to respond just a minute and a half later to make it 1-1, but that’s the closest margin the Sailors would see all night as the Skiers extended a 10-4 lead at halftime to close out a 20-5 victory.
This is the second game the Skiers have amassed 20 goals; they shutout Durango 20-0 on Tuesday.
“The biggest thing is they put in a lot of hard work in the offseason and it’s really fine-tuning our fundamentals and is letting them mesh,” Aspen coach Amanda Trendell said. “Steamboat is very athletic and very aggressive, so the more we can have our skills clean and play pretty lacrosse, we can keep up with those people who are really athletic and really aggressive.”
Steamboat struggled to gain possession of the ball on the opening faceoffs. Aspen senior Charlotte Howie managed to lob the ball up and catch it on her run into the attack zone to set up the offense each time. As the game progressed, the Sailors defense grew tired.
Howie was one four players on the Skiers to score three goals. Senior Sabrina Turbidy, sophomore Kylie Kenny and junior Hayley Heinecken also had three goals. The top scorer for the Skiers was senior Kate Citron with five goals.
Schott added three goals in the contest for the Sailors. Senior Lucy Shimek had one and junior Samantha Kennedy added another.
“Every time we got in into the attack zone we would score,” Schott said. “But the draws weren’t really like our best tonight. But if we had more control on the draws, I think the score would’ve been a lot different.”
The Skiers also posed a strong defense with advanced stick work, able to knock the ball out of Steamboat’s possession. Norris believes that if the Sailors are able to refine their stick skills, they’ll start winning games.
“We need to move the ball a little faster on attack, front of the net get open and make that pass,” Norris said. “I’m still optimistic for the season, it’s the first game and a tough one to start out with.”
Steamboat (0-1) heads to Cherokee Trail (1-1) at noon on Saturday.
Aspen (2-0) will leave for California on Friday, where it will face Cate School on Saturday. The Skiers are on spring break next week.