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Lady Tigers lacrosse loses 2 in 2 days, 7-12 to Fruita and 7-12 to Green Mountain

Summit vs. Fruita, April 22

Score 1 2 Final

Summit 4 3 7

Fruita 8 4 12

Summit vs. Green Mountain, April 23

Score 1 2 Final

Summit 7 1 8

GMHS 5 7 12

FRISCO — Bad juju comes in twos for the Summit girl’s lacrosse team.

On Friday and Saturday, the Lady Tigers faced two evenly matched opponents at home after a long and (hopefully) relaxing spring break away from the class and the lax field. The girl’s started strong in both games, only to fall apart in the second halves to post two losses in two days: 7-12 against Fruita Monument (3-6 overall, 2-3 league) and 8-12 against non-conference team Green Mountain.

Friday’s game came after a painful loss on Wednesday to Palmer, a 20-5 blowout in Colorado Springs. Head coach Merri McKissock knew her team needed to recover after such a beating, and following a stellar practice on Thursday she felt like the Friday match against Fruita was the perfect time to recoup and restore. It was time: The last time the two teams met, Fruita dominated the Tigers, 18-4.



“They know what they want to do and they’re starting to apply that in the game,” McKissock said. “Unfortunately, we’re better in practice right now than we are in the games.”

And, for the first 25 minutes of the Fruita match, the girls were playing a confident game — their game. They ended the first half outscored, 8-4, but McKissock was happy to see quick transitions and ball movement on both sides of the field. Turnovers were an issue, just as they’ve been all season, but the team was playing better as a unit than they did in the brutal Wednesday blowout.



“We still have a lot of turnovers, but we’re playing with intensity,” McKissock said. “That’s good to see. The girls were telling me they didn’t play like they wanted to on Wednesday and we really came back from that today.”

Then came the second half. The Tigers didn’t let Fruita run all over them — they actually outscored the Wildcats 4-3 — but those four goals weren’t enough to outpace their opponent. Play got messy, passes got dropped and the Summit attackers let at least three heated drives collapse with wayward shots.

On defense, senior Siena Fowles kept her team in the game, showing plenty of poise after the 20-point loss earlier in the week. And, since it’s prom season, more than a few players said “yes” to handmade banners and dozens of roses at half and after the game, including freshman Sarah Hood, who’s also one of the few first-year players to swing between varsity and JV.

The Tigers lost, 7-12, to enter Saturday’s game 2-7 overall and 1-4 in the 4A Western Slope.

Summit vs. Green Mountain

After the Fruita loss, McKissock expected another close but winnable game against Green Mountain at home. And, for the first half, she was right: seven different players dominated the field for seven points, one of the best and most diverse halves of the season so far.

“We just focused on our game again,” McKissock said. “We were passing around center, passing around both zones (and) had lots of good cuts.”

Then, again, the second half came. A mix of confused play and questionable calls — not to mention penalty after penalty — threw off the Lady Tigers momentum.

“We started out flat-footed on our second half,” McKissock said. “We got thrown off our game. Unfortunately, it had a domino effect on the rest of our game.”

No kidding. Over the next 25 minutes, Summit allowed seven and scored just once to give Green Mountain the go-ahead win, 12-8, to go 0-3 in the first three games after spring break.

The Lady Tigers now enter the back half of the season with seven games remaining, including several rescheduled matches for snow in March. They next face Steamboat Springs (5-6 overall, 3-3 league) in Steamboat on Tuesday.


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