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Boys Team of the Year: Steamboat lacrosse

Joel Reichenberger
Despite some shaky moments during the regular season, the Steamboat boys lacrosse team regrouped and has given coach Bob Hiester, who plans to retire at the end of the school year, a fitting farewell with a trip to the Final Four.
John F. Russell

The season started with a high ranking and all the optimism possible, but there were plenty of times during the regular season when it appeared this Steamboat Springs High School boys lacrosse team might not be all that special.

Only after some of their most inconsistent play were the Sailors able to prove they were indeed a force to be reckoned with this season.

The squad lost a crucial game early to Aspen, thereby relinquishing control of the Mountain League for the first time in the league’s existence.



Plenty of questions about the team hung in the air as the season wore on. The Sailors lost in embarrassing fashion, playing at home against Valor Christian, when the Eagles came back from an 8-2 deficit to win, 11-10.

Steamboat seemed to have a real second-half problem when Grand Junction nearly pulled off the same feat two games later. The Sailors held on 11-9 to win that one.



In the playoffs, though, Steamboat looked more like the squad with the skilled veterans with big dreams.

The Sailors bulldozed Windsor, 13-5, to pick up the program’s only second playoff win. Then Steamboat traveled to the Front Range to beat Cheyenne Mountain for the second time this season, 10-9, thrusting the Sailors into the semifinals. There, the Sailors were doomed by penalties in a 6-4 loss to Air Academy.

The Sailors were led across the field by talented upperclassmen, who turned around the team’s season in time to make its deepest-ever playoff run.


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