Battle Mountain girls lacrosse shuts out Eagle Valley in rivalry win
The Huskies girls lacrosse team is off to a 3-0 start
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily
For the Battle Mountain girls lacrosse team, spring could be summarized as follows: cold weather, hot start.
With snow threatening the I-70 corridor, Wednesday night’s interstate rivalry lacrosse match against Eagle Valley turned into a one-sided affair early. The Huskies jumped out to a 7-0 first-quarter lead en route to a 15-0 victory.
“I think it’s great,” head coach Mat Ballay said of his team’s 3-0 start. The fifth-year coach credits the squad’s internal competition as a big reason for the Huskies’ winning record.
“You have a lot of girls competing for playing time,” he continued. “It’s pushing everyone, making everyone better and we’re seeing it in this start. We’re thrilled and we’re going to keep it rolling Saturday against Montrose.”
On Wednesday, senior Quincy Pribramsky led the defending 4A Western Slope champions with four goals.
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“She was all over the field and was smart with the possessions,” Ballay said. “She’s taking good shots. Placement is good, she’s not wasting her opportunities and she’s capitalizing on all the chances she’s getting.”
Eight Battle Mountain athletes scored goals in the win. Piper Sass and Sydney Dantas each tallied three assists apiece. Izzy Thomas collected five ground balls and Roxy Surridge stopped two shots on goal to earn the shutout. The Huskies’ early lead also gave Ballay a chance to let freshmen Catherine and Caroline Provencher work their chemistry on the field. Late in the fourth quarter, Catherine found Caroline to make it 13-0.
Even with the dominant victory, Ballay saw a few things in need of improvement.
“I thought our second quarter we were a little sloppy with possessions,” the coach said before adding that he noticed a second-half improvement in ball control.
“Our offense was really patient, we were moving off ball and generating a lot of assisted goals, so I was really happy with that.”
Big goals for 2024
The Huskies graduated 10 seniors from last year’s team, which went 9-1 in league play before falling to Thompson Valley in the second round of the state tournament.
“But we have a lot of seniors who have seen playing time on varsity and they know how to handle themselves,” said Ballay, who has guided Battle Mountain to 13-4 and 12-5 overall records across the past two seasons. “So far, they’re doing a great job of leading this team.”
Ballay pointed to Surridge in the net as well as Sass and Molly Kessenich as prime examples. He described the stat-sheet-stuffing Kessenich as the team’s “Swiss Army knife.” Meanwhile, junior Kylah Romer is the team’s defensive anchor.
“She’s kind of the quarterback there — very vocal and a great leader,” the coach said.
Sloane Thompson is another name Ballay thinks fans will come to learn in short order. “She’s playing great down there (on defense),” he said of the junior.
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
Within the league, Ballay expects Roaring Fork and Aspen — which is also off to an undefeated start — to be the main obstacles in the way of a second-straight conference championship.
“That’s kind of the expectation we have for the program. That’s the goal,” Ballay said of winning the 4A Western Slope.
“And beyond that, we want to see what we can do in the playoffs. We want to always try to progress and go a little bit further than we did before.”
