In the clash of rivals, Grand Junction girls lacrosse faced off against Fruita Monument, sparking a fierce battle for dominance on the field. This intense rivalry took place this past Monday, April 9th at the CMU Unity field, drawing a respectable crowd of spectators. The Grand Junction Tigers, the team combined with Palisade and Central, fought persistently against the Wildcats with a score of 11-4 heading into the 3rd quarter. Jackie Flores, a Freshman varsity defender from Palisade on the Grand Junction lacrosse team shares her insight on the game. “Playing defense against Fruita is always very hard because they play so far out. Overall for the team, I think we played really well, especially in the first half.” Although the team continued to work hard throughout the second half, their momentum began to subside when Fruita started playing more intensely. Flores says, “Once they started winning draws and getting the balls it was hard for us to just settle the ball. I think we just got a little overconfident coming out of such a strong first half which really affected the focus of our playing.” Throughout the game, there were some tough and close matchups involved. Team leader and Grand Junction captain Madison Degeorge(2026) has a commendable average of 3.7 goals per game in reference to Fruita’s lead scorer Mckenna Jensen (2026) with 3.8 goals per game. Grand Junction’s Caitlyn Wesolowki (2024) and Fruita’s Kendall Roehm (2024) both lead their teams in assists with an average of one assist per game. The game was a close tie with an unfortunate score from Fruita in the last 30 seconds, leaving the score 14-15. Throughout the game, the Tigers illustrated great enthusiasm by celebrating their teammate’s successes and coming out on the field with an immense amount of energy. Flores voices “I think the loss was a bit discouraging while the game was happening but I think it’s definitely motivation now. We know we can come back better and we really really want to win next time.” Though facing discouragement at first, the team is using this loss as motivation to continue to refine and perfect their skills to win against Fruita next time on April 30th to finish out the league season.