Prep notebook: Green Mountain takes down Battle Mountain in clash of top 4A girls lacrosse squads
Arizona State University commit Kara Harris scored five goals and added four assists in the Ram's 18-8 win
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily
Kya Cooper scored six goals and Arizona State University commit Kara Harris added five more plus four assists in leading No. 2 Green Mountain to an 18-8 win over No. 3 Battle Mountain on Wednesday night in a matchup of two of the best teams in 4A girls lacrosse. The Huskies received three goals from Murphy Werner in the loss, which dropped them to 10-4 on the season.
“We really struggled on the draws,” said Battle Mountain head coach Mat Ballay. “They’re pretty patient offensively and so we just didn’t have a lot of possession — it starts there.”
Battle Mountain controlled just eight of the 32 draws against the 2022 state champions.
“We need to figure that out,” Ballay continued. “Once we had possession we were getting looks; we were just playing a lot of defense.”
The Huskies defeated the Rams 12-11 on the road last spring en route to a 14-0 regular season. On Wednesday, In addition to Werner’s hat trick, Battle Mountain received goals from Abigail Rowe, Addie O’Connor, Isabelle Adochio and Kate and Izzy Kovacik. The Huskies were able to cut it to 11-5 after Adochio’s score with 9:32 left in the third quarter, but couldn’t come closer the rest of the way.
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“I thought our second line midfield played phenomenal,” Ballay said. “I think the bench that came in kept playing hard and competing to the end. We had girls who don’t typically play come off the bench and compete and play hard and I was impressed with that.”
With the state tournament brackets released on Sunday, Battle Mountain’s resume is still looking sharp. The Huskies have beaten No. 4 Steamboat Springs twice this year and also notched wins against No. 5 Mead, No. 7 Roaring Fork and No. 8 Aspen. They also went up against the defending state champions, No. 1 Evergreen, on Saturday, falling 19-8.
“We want to play the best teams in the state in the regular season so there’s no surprises come playoff time and we see what that competition level looks like,” said Ballay, who has led the Huskies to a 35-4 league record over the last four years. Battle Mountain is 8-1 in the 4A Mountain East this year and closes out the regular season against Aspen on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Edwards.
Other prep notes: Vail Christian girls soccer finishes regular season with perfect league mark
- The Vail Christian girls soccer team defeated Rifle 4-1 to finish the regular season with a 9-3 record. Susie Irving scored two goals and added an assist as the Saints also received scores from Lily Greshko and Anabelle Morris. Vanessa Reyes also tallied two assists in the win. No. 17-ranked Vail Christian ended the year with a 4-0 league mark, tops in the three-team 2A Intermountain North Division. There are 24 teams selected to the 2A state tournament, including nine automatic qualifiers coming from leagues with at least three teams, per the CHSAA soccer bulletin.
- The Battle Mountain girls soccer team fell to Mullen 4-0 on Wednesday. The Huskies (7-4-3) face Eagle Valley (5-5-3) in the season finale on Saturday in Edwards. The two teams played to a 2-2 tie in their first matchup on March 25.
