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Steamboat Springs — A day after picking up its first win of the season, the Steamboat Springs High School girls lacrosse team reverted back to some bad habits in Thursday's 20-0 loss to St. Mary's Academy.

"We just didn't have the will today," Steamboat coach Jenn Kirkpatrick said. "We weren't aggressive as we could be, and we let them dictate the whole game."

St. Mary's certainly dictated the game and showed why, year in and year out, the team always is in the race for a state championship. The team scored 15 seconds into the game and had a 7-0 lead after just 10 minutes.

Steamboat had its best chance with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Mollie Wunder worked her way across midfield and through several defenders, before unleashing a shot that missed just high.

After that, Steamboat didn't have many more opportunities.

St. Mary's took a 14-0 lead at halftime, extended it to 17-0 four minutes into the second half and cruised to victory.

"We can definitely learn from them," Steamboat's Terica Arroyo said. "We can learn from their stick skills and how they play defense against us and apply it to other teams we play."

Steamboat now prepares for a game today at Denver East - another team expected to battle for a state championship.

Kirkpatrick said that against Denver East, she hopes to see the type of intensity she saw Wednesday against Mountain Range.

"I thought (the win) would be a real motivator," Kirkpatrick said. "I though that win would really boost our confidence - which it did - but I think we took for granted that we could win. When you come out against a team like St. Mary's, you have to play hard. (Today), we have to come out hard and really have that desire and dig deep."

- To reach Luke Graham, call 871-4229

or e-mail lgraham@steamboatpilot.com