The game of lacrosse becomes drastically more difficult when a team has to play nine against 10.

Durango High School committed nine penalties and gave up seven man-up goals to Vail Mountain School in a 13-8 loss Saturday in Vail.

“That basically, ultimately, was the difference-maker,” DHS head coach John Robinette said. “We’ve got to do a better job of staying out of the penalty box, be more disciplined and work on our man-down defense.”

The rest of the game broke fairly evenly, pitting two evenly matched teams.

Both teams fired 33 shots. DHS (5-3, 2-2 Mountain League) won the ground-ball battle 29-22.

Goalie Hank Muir made 10 saves for the Demons.

The Demons had trouble stopping Vail Mountain sophomore Luke Verrati, who had six goals and one assist.

“He’s kind of a stud,” Robinette said.

Jack Marshall led DHS with three goals and Kyle Robinette scored once the for the Demons, dished out two assists and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Trevor Gabbard scored twice for DHS.

The Demons just couldn’t match up with the Gore Rangers playing a man down so often. Vail Mountain (4-2, 3-2 ML) only committed two penalties in the game, and DHS couldn’t find the back of the net on either advantage.

“Hats off to them. They’ve got a lot of talent,” coach Robinette said. “They capitalized on our mistakes.”

DHS continues its three-game road stretch with a 2 p.m. game Saturday at Grand Junction.

“That’s going to be a real battle for us. Grand Junction is playing real well this year,” coach Robinette said. “We got them last year by one, so they’re not going to be looking past us.”

heraldsports@durangoherald.com