The Steamboat Springs High School girls lacrosse team spent most of Wednesday’s 16-2 loss to Battle Mountain on defense, but the two goals were beauties.

Junior Erin Maitre got the ball from a teammate around midfield. She ran up the sidelines with just one Battle Mountain player between her and the net. She pushed forward under pressure, closing the gap to the goal. She tried to aim over the defender but then pulled left, swung her stick low and to the left, scoring Steamboat’s first goal of the game. The goal came with 18 minutes left to play, bringing the score to 10-1.

“I had to do something,” Maitre said. “I really like to run the ball down the field, and I just kept going. I noticed two people were in front of me, so I just went low and behind my back.”

The goal seemed to give the Sailors a new wave of energy. Five minutes later, they scored again. Maitre collected a clearing pass from a teammate but was closed off immediately. She threw the ball across the entire field, where Tinsley Moore scooped it up. The freshman centered herself in the field, aimed and snuck the ball past the Huskies netminder.

She threw both her hands in the air to celebrate her first high school lacrosse goal.

“My coach keeps telling me to look up, so I finally did that,” Moore said. “There was no one in front, so I went to take a shot, and it went in.”

The pair of goals were all the Steamboat offense could muster in game, but they avoided the shutout. The Sailors have had a rough go of it to start the 2021 season, suffering three tough losses in which they’ve allowed double-digit goals. However, they’ve managed to score at least one goal in each.

“We’re getting it together,” Maitre said. “We had a full team before (in 2020), and then they all were gone, and we missed a year, so we’re pulling it together.”

Both Maitre and Moore said in the past week, the team has shown clear improvements, and they hope to just maintain that trajectory for the rest of the spring.

If anyone were to get frustrated with the amount of goals allowed per game, it would be junior goaltender Claire Fischer. After three goals, 10 goals and even 16 goals, she maintains a positive attitude.

“I’ve got to look at the ball, not the score,” Fischer said. “I can’t watch the score go up. I have to watch that ball so I can have the next goal.”

The defenders in front of Fischer were endlessly encouraging, turning around and telling their teammate between the pipes that she was doing amazing.

“I love my defense,” Fischer said.

“They’re a powerhouse today,” Moore added.

Battle Mountain 16, Steamboat Springs 2

BM 6 10 – 16

SS 0 2 – 2

Shelby Reardon is the assistant editor at the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach her, call 970-871-4253, email sreardon@SteamboatPilot.com or follow her on Twitter @ByShelbyReardon.