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Preps: Roaring Fork girls lacrosse returns favor, rallies to beat Aspen

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Roaring Fork High School girls lacrosse coach Drew Kitchell reacts after the Rams scored the game-winning goal against Aspen on Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Carbondale.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

The Roaring Fork High School girls lacrosse team edged out Aspen, 13-12, in a closely contested game on Thursday in Carbondale. It was a rematch of a showdown in March, where Aspen rallied to win, 8-7.

The rematch began with Roaring Fork senior Lucianna Phillips opening the scoring, setting the tone for a competitive game. Aspen quickly responded, with senior Katy Clettenberg netting two goals in a row to push Aspen ahead, 3-2. However, Roaring Fork junior Josie McKinley-Kitchell tied things up, keeping the Rams in the game.

A missed opportunity for Roaring Fork to take the lead occurred when Aspen senior Clea Welden intercepted a crucial ball during a man-down play, but Roaring Fork sophomore Jordyn Miller didn’t miss her chance, scoring to give the Rams a 4-3 lead. An attempt by Roaring Fork senior Grace Garcia to extend the lead was thwarted as her penalty shot sailed right of the net.

Clettenberg found the net again for Aspen, tying the game at 4-4 and sealing herself a hat-trick early in the game. The first half saw more back-and-forth action, with Aspen junior Lindsey Waldeck tying the game at 5-5. A fluke goal attributed to Aspen junior Kennedy Hopson after a mistake by Roaring Fork goalie Ella Gunning gave Aspen a 7-5 lead, which was extended to 8-5 thanks to Aspen junior Haley Schmela.

Roaring Fork fought back, with Garcia and junior Hailey Wolf narrowing the gap to 8-7. Aspen managed to pull away again, leading 11-8 by the end of the third quarter, despite Roaring Fork’s efforts. The lead became 12-8 not even a minute into the fourth quarter.


The final minutes were intense, with Roaring Fork closing the gap to a single goal at 12-11 with four minutes left on the clock, the game-tying goal coming with only 2:38 to play.

A crucial save by Aspen freshman goalie Kahler Marsh and a series of missed opportunities kept the game tight until Garcia broke through, scoring with 54 seconds left to give Roaring Fork a 13-12 lead, which they maintained until the end.

“We have a tough squad and were able to preserve until the end tonight,” Roaring Fork coach Drew Kitchell said. “We’ve got some tough kids and played a really good team tonight. We never hung our heads down and we are satisfied with this win.”

Aspen lacrosse player Kennedy Hopson, right, controls the ball against Roaring Fork.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

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Sophomore Jordyn Miller emphasized the significance of the victory. 

“This win means a lot,” Miller said. “We lost to them earlier in the season, so to be able to come back and win the game in this fashion is big for our confidence going forward.”

The Rams’ record improves to 4-2 and they will next play Saturday against Castle View. The Skiers’ record falls to 5-3, as the team next looks toward a home game against Eagle Valley on Tuesday.

Boys lacrosse

Down on the AHS turf on Thursday, the Aspen boys lacrosse team beat Glenwood Springs, 9-4, to snap its long losing streak. The Skiers had lost five straight played contests — they did earn a forfeit win over Summit in that stretch — before getting back on the tracks against the Demons.

Glenwood fell to 2-4 overall, while Aspen improved to 3-5. AHS next plays at Steamboat Springs on Saturday night; the Sailors won their first meeting back on April 3 in Aspen, 11-3.

Girls soccer

The Basalt High School girls soccer team snapped its recent skid on Thursday by beating Rifle in a home, league game, 5-0.

The Longhorns had lost six straight — one via forfeit — since their season-opening win over Telluride. They are now 2-6 overall with a game against Middle Park coming up on Monday.

Rifle fell to 3-5-1 overall. The Bears play Grand Valley on Monday.

Aspen girls soccer (2-3-1) plays Friday at Manitou Springs and Saturday at Ponderosa. AHS and Basalt are scheduled to play next Thursday, April 18, in their lone game against each other this season.

Colorado Rocky Mountain School played Thursday at Vail Christian, losing 3-2. CRMS is now 3-4 overall.

Baseball

The Aspen High School baseball team also returned to the win column on Thursday with a 16-3 rout of Grand Valley in Parachute. It snapped a three-game skid for the Skiers and brings them to 2-3 overall ahead of Saturday’s home doubleheader against Moffat County (1-8).

Grand Valley fell to 0-9 after the AHS loss.

Basalt (2-5) was idle ahead of Saturday’s home doubleheader against Coal Ridge (8-0). The same for Roaring Fork (4-8), which plays Saturday at Strasburg (2-4).

Austin Colbert of the Aspen Times contributed to this report.

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