Eagle Valley girls lacrosse takes down Summit 24-8

Eagle Valley finally got some nice weather for a girls lacrosse game. The Devils responded by scoring in droves.

“The sun was out and I think that kind of gave the girls a little extra energy,” said head coach Genna Randall after the Devils defeated Summit 24-8 in Gypsum. “We came out with a lot of energy and momentum.”  C.J. Yurcak scored three of her game-high seven goals in the first 10 minutes to set the tone.

“And that kind of continued throughout the rest of the game,” Randall said while describing her senior captain as “crazy athletic” and possessing a “great attitude.”

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“She definitely has a leadership role on the team,” Randall continued in speaking of the multi-sport athlete, who also had three assists on the night. “Some of the incoming freshmen and newer girls look up to her because she has a great way of explaining things and I think she’s done a good job of being someone the newer players can come to who is not intimidating.”

At the end of the first half, the Devils led 15-9. “Overall, it was really pretty, fast-paced lacrosse, especially in the first half.”

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The lead allowed the Devils to work on some finer points of their offensive sets in the second, where they added nine more goals. Sienna Rinn and Isabelle Thomas each tallied five goals and four assists. In the midfield, Thomas was influential on the draws throughout the entire game and converted her controls into offensive opportunities.

“She’s played most of her life and you can really see that on field,” Randall stated. “She had a really great game last night.”

Defensively, Eagle Valley was thankful to have Aubrey Winstead back off of concussion protocol. “She’s a fairly new player but has put in a lot of work and has definitely helped bring our defense together,” Randall said. In the net, goalie Justine St. John would only allow two second-half goals. The Devils’ scoring front was rounded out by Gracie Nestlerode, who had four goals and two assists, and Evie Tharaldson, who also scored three for the Devils.

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“Just super happy to see everybody clicking,” the coach continued. “We had a little bit of a slow start to the season and we’re hoping this is the start of getting some back-to-back wins and getting momentum from that.”

After falling to Durango 10-9 last Friday, the win improved Eagle Valley’s record to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the 4A Mountain East standings. Randall said she feels her team is still in a growth phase, but last night was a breakthrough in terms of timing cuts, being smart with the ball and generating offense.

“We have a lot of talent on our team, but we’ve just had a hard time getting to the goal until last night,” she said.

“I think we can put up 15 to 20 points per game with the firepower that we have.” 

Eagle Valley is off the rest of the week before playing at home against Montrose on April 6.