Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Save for the first few minutes and the last few minutes of Monday night’s game, the Steamboat Springs High School lacrosse team showed that the gap between it and Front Range teams is closing.

But a slow start and a late collapse doomed Steamboat again, this time in a 13-12 loss to Grandview.

Steamboat is now 7-3 overall, with all of its wins coming against Mountain Conference foes. Steamboat has outscored conference opponents 93-17 in seven games this season. Against Front Range competition, the team is 0-3 and has been outscored 31-25.

“When you look at the Front Range games we’ve played, I’d love to play them again because I think we’d win,” Steamboat coach Bob Hiester said. “But we need to start showing that progress.” 

Steamboat fell behind, 3-0, on Monday and trailed, 7-6, at halftime. That margin remained the same, with the Sailors trailing, 9-8, in the fourth quarter, before Steamboat finally took the lead. 

The Sailors were up, 12-10, with 2 minutes, 39 seconds remaining when they were called for two penalties. The first was a one-minute, non-releasable offense. The second put Steamboat down two men. 

Grandview capitalized, getting a man-up goal with 1:32 left in the game to cut the lead to 12-11. 

At the 1:18 mark, right as Steamboat had killed the man-up advantage, Grandview scored the equalizer. 

The Sailors won the ensuing faceoff, and Hiester called timeout with 39 seconds to go. Steamboat got a decent look on offense, but Grandview got the ball back and scored the game-winner with eight seconds remaining. 

“We need to learn to control our emotions better,” Hiester said. “Play with emotion but you can’t let your emotions get the better of you.” 

Grant McCannon led the Sailors with four goals and an assist. John Wharton added three goals, and Wilber Ranieri scored two. Lance Ostrom had three assists. 

The team continues its Front Range swing at 7 p.m. Friday when it travels to Air Academy. The team then plays at 1 p.m. Saturday at Valor Christian.

Despite the loss, Hiester said he’s confident his team will be ready to exercise its Front Range demons this weekend. 

“The kids took it hard,” he said. “They understand that’s a game we should have won.”

— To reach Luke Graham, call 970-871-4229 or email lgraham@SteamboatToday.com