Lakewood boys lacrosse off to its best start in nearly a decade

LAKEWOOD — Friday, March 20 was the first official day of Spring, but it was still Winter at Trailblazer Stadium.

Lakewood sophomore Alex Winter poured in six first-half goals for the Tigers in a dominating 16-2 victory over Dakota Ridge, last year’s Class 4A state champions. 

“My teammates were feeding me the ball and I was getting good looks,” Winter said of scoring a single-game career high six goals in the first half alone.

Junior Lukas Gonzales also lit up the scoreboard in the first half for Lakewood. The junior attacker had five goals in the first half to help the Tigers get out to a 13-0 lead at halftime.

Dakota Ridge senior Jackson Kenny got the Eagles on the scoreboard early in the third quarter and junior Evan Kissinger scored Dakota Ridge’s second goal in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the Eagles (1-2 record).

“It’s nice to beat (Dakota Ridge) because we haven’t beat them for a long time,” Lakewood coach Darin Denton said. “Our seniors have never beat them. That is big for them.”

Dakota Ridge had a three-game winning streak against the Tigers. The last Lakewood victory over the Eagles in boys lacrosse was in 2022. 

While Dakota Ridge had a historic and magical run to the 4A state championship last season, the Eagles graduated 16 seniors and one of the best face-off players in the state — Landon Kalsbeck — graduated a semester early to enroll at Iowa State University where he will play football.

“It means a lot. We got better this year and (Dakota Ridge) lost a few guys,” Winter said. “It feels great to win this.”

Lakewood (3-0) also has victories over Cherokee Trail and Golden before heading to California for a pair of games during Spring Break.

“Last year was rough because we lost the first three games,” Winter said. “We wanted to come back with revenge. Our motto this year is ‘All In’. We wanted to come out firing with a 3-0 start. The revenge tour has started.”

Lakewood is off to its best start in nearly a decade.

“We took our lumps with the young guys for a while, but it is paying off that they were able to get all that experience,” Denton said of the Tigers’ best start since 2018 when Lakewood began 7-0. “They are a great group of friends now too.” 

Lakewood will face JSerra Catholic (March 25) and LaJolla (March 27) next week. The Tigers’ next game in Colorado will be on the road against Rock Canyon on April 2.

“I think the sky is the limit for these guys. I think the guys think the sky is the limit,” Denton said of Lakewood’s goals this season coming off a 9-8 campaign last season. “If we stay healthy and get better every practice and every game we are ready to take on anybody.”