Box Score

DURANGO, Colo. — If Colorado College is a measuring stick, then Fort Lewis has arrived in women's lacrosse.

The Tigers — an NCAA Division III opponent that has fielded women's lacrosse for 18 years and qualified for the national playoffs six times — survived a scare by the upstart Fort Lewis program by defeating the Division II Skyhawks 14-12 today at Ray Dennison Memorial Field. Colorado College improved to 11-2 overall with the win.

“Now we know we can hang with those teams that are good,” said second-year FLC head coach Kelsey MacDonald. The fourth-year Skyhawks came into today's game 0-4 all-time against CC, with the average margin of defeat more than 12 goals.

“I wasn't disappointed with our play at all,” she added. “I thought we outhustled them. It's one of those games that you play well, but just don't win.”

Fort Lewis did nearly the little things right. FLC won the ground ball battle 38-27, outshot the Tigers 36-25 (the most surrendered by CC this season), forced CC to make 29 turnovers, and limited the Tigers to just 17 of 29 in clearing attempts.

The one thing FLC couldn't do was solve CC goalkeeper Abby Fink (11-2) with any sort of regularity. Fink tied a season high with 16 saves and was particularly effective on free position shots. The Skyhawks made just seven of 19 FPS attempts.

“The biggest thing was finishing and only being 7 for 19 on free positions,” said MacDonald. “Their keeper was extremely good. We just couldn't find a way to put it by her.”

On the offensive end, CC's Grace Maloney exploded in the final 13 minutes, scoring four goals in a seven-and-a-half minute span to turn a 9-9 game into a 13-10 CC lead. Maloney's first set of back-to-back goals gave the Tigers their first two-goal lead at 11-9; she added two more in 35 seconds to all-but seal the victory with 5:31 remaining. She was the only player with multiple goals for CC.

Fort Lewis used a balanced attack to stay close. Abby Kvidera, Ally Kvidera, and Jessica Adams each recorded hat tricks, while Brook Wineland scored twice and Jessica Norby once.

Genna Waugh (5-5) made four saves in goal for the Skyhawks.

Fort Lewis (6-6, 3-2) continues its five-game homestand at 1 p.m. Friday when it hosts Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association rival Regis (6-6, 4-1) at Dennison Field.