On a windy afternoon, the lacrosse team blew away CSU Pueblo with a record setting 22-6 victory. Sophomore forward Sarah Urbanic’s 9 goals set a single-game record.
On April 4, the Mountain Lions started off with an early 8-point lead against the Thunderwolves and maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the game, extending it at one point to 16 points.
The Mountain Lions dominated the first quarter. A minute into the game, graduate student midfielder Rylie Maready caught a pass from senior midfielder Erica Rivera and put the ball in the back of the net, taking an early lead, 1-0. The rest of the quarter remained consistent with goals from the Mountain Lions with assists from Rivera and sophomore attacker Emma Grace Martin.
With 4:42 left in the quarter, Martin passed the ball to Urbanic who scored to earn herself a hat trick. Less than 20 seconds later, Urbanic scored again to put the game at 8-0. The Thunderwolves wouldn’t leave the quarter scoreless, as they beat the defense back and scored with less than a minute in the period. Grace Martin put the ball into the net again in the final 7 seconds, ending the quarter, 9-1.
The Mountain Lions began the second quarter with their 10th goal of the game from junior attacker Allie Schell, assisted by Rivera. Urbanic kept up the pace this quarter with 2 goals, putting her at 6 goals with 2 quarters left. The Thunderwolves broke through the defense once again but couldn’t make a dent in the score of 15-2 going into the third.
Urbanic scored another goal three minutes into the third quarter, but the Thunderwolves responded 2 minutes later to make the score 16-3. However, Urbanic powered through the Thunderwolves defense twice after, getting her record-setting 9th goal of the game halfway into the third. With a couple seconds left in the quarter, the Thunderwolves managed to get past the Mountain Lions defense, making the score 20-4.
The fourth quarter began with a back-and-forth standoff, until six minutes into the quarter, when the Thunderwolves scored. Less than a minute later, the Thunderwolves kept their momentum to rack up another goal and make the game 20-6. This would be the last goal for the Thunderwolves. The Mountain Lions scored twice in the last minutes to confirm the win, 22-6.
Urbanic led the scoring with 9 goals followed by freshman midfielder Sophia Watts with 4 goals. Maready performed a hat-trick. Rivera and Martin tied for highest assists with 3 each.
Martin said a combination of ground balls, defense and teamwork helped them win the game. “We got those ground balls. Ground balls win games. Our defense was dominant. Defense wins championships. On attack, we all played together, and that’s what we strive for on the team,” Martin said.
This was the second victory against CSU Pueblo this season. Martin said the team watched film on the Thunderwolves to calculate new strategies. “Going in today, we knew we had to put pressure on their defense and be aggressive with our drives,” Martin said. “Something big our coach said to go into this game with is the two Ds: discipline and dominance.”
The Mountain Lions beat Fort Lewis on April 6, 23-12, putting their overall record at 8-3 and their RMAC record at 5-2.
The Mountain Lions play next at Colorado Mesa on April 11.