Battle Mountain girls lacrosse cruises into 4A state semifinals for first time in program history

Izzy Adochio scored once and dished out four assists as the Huskies defeated Steamboat Springs 19-7

News | May 10, 2025

Ryan Sederquist

**Izzy Adochio tallied four assists to lead Battle Mountain to a 19-7 win over Steamboat Springs in the 4A girls lacrosse state quarterfinals on Saturday in Edwards.**
*Rex Keep/Courtesy photo*

Izzy Adochio doesn’t have to fill up the box score to influence a game. On Saturday, however, the Battle Mountain junior’s impact was noticeable — on the field and in the stats.

“She deserves the recognition,” head coach Mat Ballay said after his team’s 19-7 win over Steamboat Springs in the 4A girls lacrosse state quarterfinals. “She’s a big contributor to our offense whether or not the plays she’s making are goals or assists.”

Adochio racked up four assists and tacked on a goal herself to help send the Huskies to their first state semifinal ever.

“That is how she always plays,” Ballay remarked. “She’s a very cerebral athlete and she’s very conscious of how she can help the team and it doesn’t have to be scoring goals. It can be little things that never end up in the stat books.”

After Thursday’s 18-4 second-round win over Air Academy, Kate Kovacik said the Huskies needed to get out to a good start against the Sailors. The Akron commit made sure it happened, scoring a goal and assisting on another as Battle Mountain went up 7-1 in the first. Addie O’Connor put in three of her team-high five goals in the opening period, two of which were set up by Adochio.

Addie O’Connor (left) fires in one of her game-high five goals during the state quarterfinal win over Steamboat Springs on Saturday in Edwards.

“We’ve always been low attack together and we’ve played since middle school — we’re pretty tight,” Adochio said. “Today we just clicked. We saw each other and were looking for each other constantly. She was always open.”

O’Connor felt the team’s high-energy, team-first mindset was a big part of the win.

“We did not come out single-minded. We were one,” she said. “When our energy is up, you know it’s going to be a good game.”

Julia Sturges opened the second quarter by popping a pass from Hailey Znamenacek into the top left corner for a Steamboat goal. Sturges scored again to make it 9-3 with 3:23 left in the half, but Catherine Provencher finished off a beautiful Battle Mountain break with 9.3 clicks on the clock to send the Huskies dancing into halftime.

“Typically we aren’t as hyped and I think it was really cool to see that,” Isabel Thomas said.

Thomas diced the defensive up with scintillating speed throughout the second half. After winning a third-quarter face off, the junior bolted down the center of the field and floated a beautiful pass to Murphy Werner, who made a nice catch-and-finish from straightaway in close. Later, Thomas knifed through the Sailor line herself, absorbed the contact and made it 13-5. Steamboat struggled to create chances on its end as the deficit ballooned to 19-5 until Anna Grove tacked on a few late scores.

Battle Mountain’s Isabel Thomas chases down Steamboat Springs’ Anna Grove during the Huskies 19-7 win on Saturday in Edwards. Thomas tallied two goals and two assists in the win.

“They beat us a couple times on that first slide where we didn’t have that help crashing, but a lot of it just came down to possession. They were playing defense a lot more than we were,” Ballay said. “When you do that, they typically get a little more impatient with their offense. …The defense was talking. It was a great team win.”

Perhaps the best representation of the top-to-bottom performance was the penultimate Husky score. One series after impeccable passing ended with a Kate to Izzy Kovacik goal, Battle Mountain goalie Hallie Holleman made her seventh save, whipped the outlet downfield and watched Palmer Ulvestad find Werner for the hat trick. Adochio said it’s that kind of unselfishness that made the difference.

“It’s like, boosting each other up,” she explained. “Every single play matters, every single person matters.”

Izzy Kovacik rides into a Steamboat Springs defender as she chases a loose ball during Saturday’s state quarterfinal matchup.

The Huskies head to the University of Denver on Wednesday to face No. 2 Green Mountain in the semifinals. The Rams defeated the Huskies 18-8 in Edwards on April 30. Thomas said connectivity was something the Huskies were lacking in the loss.

“We were not playing as a team, so I feel like having this will definitely help us,” she said.

“I think if we play how we played today, we will have a chance,” O’Connor added.

Battle Mountain forfeited its quarterfinal matchup in 2022, lost in the second round in 2023 and was upset by Northfield in the quarterfinals last year. Ballay said “experience” is one reason this group has been able to take another step and head into the final four with confidence.

“We talked a lot about what we want to accomplish as a group,” the coach stated. “And this team is hungry to get another opportunity to get Green Mountain.”