Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs High School girls junior varsity lacrosse team started fast and withstood a late Battle Mountain rally Tuesday, picking up an 8-5 win at Gardner Field. 

Steamboat jumped out to an early first half lead behind the stick work of Aleigh Aurin near the goal. 

Aurin used her speed and stick-handling abilities to score four straight early goals to help the Sailors to a 4-0 lead. 

Her fourth — at the 14 minute, 39 second mark — came via a backhanded shot that froze up Battle Mountain goaltender Ali Feeney. 

Battle Mountain’s Rylee McMillin got the Huskies closer with 4:26 left in the first half when her shot snuck by Steamboat goaltender Alyssa McMahon to cut the lead to 4-1. 

Aurin came back for the Sailors, scoring with 34 seconds left in the half to send Steamboat into halftime with a 5-1 lead. 

“They knew I was coming,” Aurin said. “They don’t like me because I scored a majority of the goals against them last time.”

When Aurin wasn’t putting on a scoring spectacle, McMahon proved herself a worthy adversary in net. 

The sophomore made four saves in the first half and 10 in the game to thwart Battle Mountain’s efforts. 

“It’s practice, I guess,” McMahon said. “We do a lot of drills in practice. It’s about being easy on your feet.”

But the Huskies weren’t done. 

After Steamboat’s Hannah Samlowski added an end-to-end goal less than seven minutes into the second half to make it 6-1, Battle Mountain made a resounding response. The Huskies Alex Lee top shelved a goal at the 10:32 mark and another three minutes later to cut the Steamboat lead to 6-3. McMillin got her second and third of the game minutes later to cut the lead to 6-5 with 3:27 left in the game. 

And who else responded but Aurin. 

The sophomore netted two more in the final 2:30 for the final result. 

“We played last year, and we had a lot of trouble even fielding a team,” Aurin said. “This year, it’s nice because we have a lot more players interested. We’re learning to play as a team.”

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