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Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs High School boys lacrosse season has been raging for less than a month. It will continue for at least another month - and if all goes well, for six more weeks.

This weekend's trio of games is vital to how long the Sailors' season lasts.

Steamboat, 3-4 on the season, welcomes Green Mountain to town at 4 p.m. today, then will face off against a pair of opponents Saturday, Alexander Dawson at 10 a.m. and Chatfield at 1 p.m.

"It's a huge weekend," Steamboat Springs coach Bob Hiester said. "You start looking at the playoff situation and only the top six go."

If the team's to make the top six and the playoffs, Hiester said, it needs to find more consistency. The Sailors won three straight games late in March, swamping opponents and outscoring them by 31 during the stretch. They gave back whatever momentum they had cobbled together last week, however, falling to rival Summit, 7-2.

"We can win if we play our lacrosse game. But, as we've shown, we can beat ourselves against anyone we play," he said. "There's pressure just to play a complete ball game. We've been in situations where we've done things pretty well but not with enough consistency."

Coming away with the two or three wins the team needs during the weekend will require more than just consistency. The team will need to play smart if it's to survive the three games crammed into less than 24 hours.

Hiester said it's of utmost importance to focus on the first game at hand. He said Green Mountain presents a tough but equal match-up.

"We match up pretty well with them," he said. "Alexander Dawson has been a good lacrosse team. They're really well coached and have a good group of athletes."

The rigors of the weekend make Chatfield the largest hurdle in his eyes, however. Despite being a relatively new program, Hiester said it's a team stocked with lacrosse veterans. The Mustangs have lost only one game in 2008, and it was on a road trip to Orlando, Fla.

On top of all that, it will be Steamboat's third game in the weekend.

"All those teams are just going to play one game, and we're going to be playing three. We need to hold on to the ball. We can't get into an up and down, up and down game," Hiester said. Chatfield "could be the biggest challenge, first because they're a really good lacrosse team and second, because that's our third game in two days."