Box Score

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Ally Kvidera scored a school-record nine goals to lead Fort Lewis (4-2 overall, 2-0 in the Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association) to a 20-6 win over Colorado Mesa (2-6, 1-3) tonight at Walker Field.

“We came out and we played like we did in the second half against Adams and it was beautiful,” said second-year FLC head lacrosse coach Kelsey MacDonald. “We played amazing defense in the midfield. When they made a mistake, we capitalized on it. That's how we won the game. We kept the intensity up in our court.”

The Skyhawks dominated the first half, with Kvidera leading the way to a 13-4 lead at intermission. She scored five goals on six shots during the first 30 minutes to pace the FLC attack. The Fort also did the little things right in the opening stanza — winning hustle stats like groundballs (27-19), draw controls (14-11), caused turnovers (5-2), and clearing attempts (10-of-14 for FLC, 7-of-14 for CMU).

Colorado Mesa took the early lead on Rachael Sutton's goal 3:18 into the game. It would prove to be CMU's only lead. Fort Lewis answered with three straight to grab a 3-1 lead — two by Kvidera and one from Kylie Smith, who also registered a hat trick in the first half alone. The see-saw affair turned into a blowout after the Mavs trimmed FLC's lead to 5-4 midway through the first half. The last 15 minutes of the first frame saw the Skyhawks outscore the home side 8-0 to take control.

Smith finished with three goals on seven shots. Jessica Norby had two goals and two assists, while Abby Kvidera had two goals and a helper. Also netting markers for the Skyhawks were Kathryn Dunn, Amanda Hoffmeyer, Toki Tajima-Prodnuk, and Brook Wineland.

Genna Waugh (3-1) allowed just six goals while making six saves and holding CMU to just 1-of-9 on free position shots. Waugh also set a new FLC standard for most ground balls in a game with nine.

“G played great … She just had an amazing game,” said MacDonald. “She was strong in the net for us and was unbelievable.”

As a team, Fort Lewis shattered the record for most ground balls in a game with 51 (the previous high-water mark was 34 at Assumption on March 8, 2011). The Skyhawks won nearly every statistical category, including ground balls (51-37), draw controls (16-12), caused turnovers (5-4), shots (42-23), shots on goal (32-12), and turnovers (23-32).

Sutton scored four points on three goals and an assist for CMU. Lexie Chavez netted a pair of markers, while Allie Henderson scored the Mavs' other goal.

Lauren Wells made 12 saves and had 10 ground balls for CMU.

The Skyhawks travel to Denver for their next two contests. They'll face Grand Valley State (Mich.) (3-4) in a nonconference game at noon next Friday and Regis (4-4, 3-1) in a WILA match at 1 p.m. next Saturday. Both contests will be played on the Regis Match Pitch.