Undefeated: Battle Mountain girls lacrosse enters 4A state tournament with 14-0 record

Before the 2024 season, no one on the Battle Mountain girls lacrosse team discussed perfection. Players did, however, strike an agreement with their coach.

“We had this deal with him where he could only shave his beard once we lose,” said Molly Kessenich.

It’s May 9 and the bewhiskered Matt Ballay couldn’t be happier.

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“It’s been a lot of fun,” the head coach said regarding his team’s 14-0 regular-season record. “It gives us a better seed for the playoffs — sets a new bar.”

After receiving a first-round bye, No. 3 Battle Mountain hosts No. 14 Holy Family in a second round state tournament matchup on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Edwards. The Huskies— the only undefeated team in 4A — have home field advantage through the state quarterfinals, but Ballay’s program hasn’t matured this quickly by taking opponents for granted.

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“There’s no tomorrow if you lose,” he said. “I’d love to string together a few wins and make a run.”

Building a dynasty

After ending Aspen’s 57-game league winning streak last spring and going 27-3 themselves over the last three years — including 10-0 this year — the Huskies have seemingly assumed the Skiers’ Western Slope throne in 2024. The spotless season is largely due to a slew of talented sophomores.

“They’ve really made a difference,” senior Carter Youngblood said. “And they’re going to continue to get better.”

Ballay credited his assistant coaches for the program’s rapid development since taking over four years ago. Chris Inks manages defense while Lindsay Lawrence fosters a formidable feeder program.

“When they come up to varsity, they don’t get caught off guard; they know what to expect,” he said of Lawrence’s junior varsity team. “I think having that in place is a huge component.”

The steady stream isn’t slowing, either.

“We have a lot of kids playing,” Ballay continued. “I think the expectations are slowly creeping up of what is expected of Battle Mountain lacrosse.”

But the eight Husky seniors didn’t walk into an established dynasty. They built it from the ground up, with Ballay laying the foundation.

“Every year our record has gotten a little better and the culture has gotten a little better and our team has started to figure it out,” Kessenich said. “It’s kind of cool to grow with that and see the evolution.”

Youngblood and Kessenich, along with Roxy Surridge and Piper Sassi, were freshmen when Ballay took over for the COVID-delayed 2020 season. Some graduating seniors left before the 4-6 campaign came to its mid-June close. Battle Mountain improved to 13-2 the following spring, but after beating Telluride in the first round and upsetting Northfield in the second, the No. 9-seeded Huskies didn’t show up for their state quarterfinal game.

“We literally forfeited to go to prom,” Kessenich recalled.

“A majority of our team were juniors and seniors, so they got to choose whether they would be there or not,” Surridge explained. Shorthanded, Battle Mountain relinquished the game to No. 1 Evergreen.

“This year, that would not have been a question,” stated Sassi.

Youngblood juxtaposed the current crop as “very determined and motivated.”

“People work hard outside of practice and during the off-season,” she continued. “And that obviously shows.”

Still, the Huskies came into 2024 just hoping to “have fun” and “be competitive.” They’ve realized those desires aren’t mutually exclusive, “which I think made a difference,” Kessenich said.

As wins piled up, Inks pre-game huddle reminder became, “You’re the top dogs.”

“It motivates us,” Sassi said of being a target. “It doesn’t scare us.” Having teammates who “feel like family” helps, the senior added. “It makes us work better together,” she said.

Ballay agreed that “focusing on how individual roles help the team function” has been key to the team’s success.

“You’ve got girls who never end up in the stat book who are critical to our performance,” said Ballay, who has fine-tuned his coaching craft over the seniors’ four-year tenure, too.

“He put a lot of effort into learning the girls game,” Kessenich said before surmising that Ballay carried the rule book with him “all the time.” Even if he doesn’t, his heart speaks louder than his head. The seniors recalled him faithfully administering countless snowy Saturday practices, kids in tow, huddled under a blanket. They remembered how he showed up on the sidelines less than a month after he was life-flighted from a game for open-heart surgery. His genuine efforts to understand his players — and his willingness to adapt strategy to their strengths — haven’t gone unnoticed.

“Ballay’s dedicated to learning the game with us,” Sassi stated. “He’s grown in knowing who we are as players and how we work together as a team. He plays us with how he thinks we can succeed with each other.”

In outscoring opponents 232 to 93 — the average outcome of any given game is roughly a 17-7 Battle Mountain win — such cerebral nimbleness has been the Huskies’ defining characteristic.

“We focus on what their strengths are and then we change our game,” said Surridge. “We play against the team rather than down to them.”

But perfect records don’t mean pointless practices. Ballay employs “highly competitive” sessions filled with odd-man situations.

“That kind of forces the development of an IQ,” he said. A large portion of each practice is dedicated to fundamentals, too.

“When you watch the top teams in the state, their sticks are incredibly sharp,” Ballay continued. “They don’t waste a lot of possessions, they get ground balls on the first go and then those things really add up.”

If this deep run is to continue — and Ballay’s beard is to remain through May — the Huskies will have to go toe-to-toe with Front Range schools.

“I think compared to last year, we have more of a chance against those Denver teams,” said Kessenich. The team’s scoring leader still has a bad taste in her mouth from last year’s season-ending 21-9 defeat to Thompson Valley.

“I think we kind of gave up,” she said. “Even if we didn’t win (this year), but consistently tried throughout the whole game and didn’t give up — and played our best — then I would be satisfied.”

“It’s all of our senior years,” Youngblood added. “We want to go out with a bang.”