The Roaring Fork Rams battled back from five goals down in the second half of Saturday’s girls lacrosse game in Carbondale, forcing overtime before top-ranked Aspen was finally able to secure the 14-13 win.

It was another epic match in what’s quickly becoming one of the most competitive high school sports rivalries in the Roaring Fork Valley.

The top two teams in the 4A Mountain East league also battled back and forth in a rain-soaked May 17 game at Aspen. It was the Skiers who came from behind late to also win that one, 12-11.

On Saturday, after the Rams rallied late in regulation to tie it at 13, Aspen senior midfielder Kylie Kenny capitalized on a Roaring Fork turnover with all but 30 seconds of the extra 4 minutes expired to score the sudden death winner.

“It’s few and far compared to her,” Aspen head coach Amanda Trendell said of her team captain, who’s headed to the University of Denver to continue her lacrosse career.

“Kylie is not only a great player on the field, but she cares about her team and you can’t ask for a better person to lead,” Trendell said.

Aspen improves to 7-0 and continues to hold the top ranking among Colorado 4A teams heading into the latter third of the regular season.

The Skiers built a 7-4 first half lead on consistent offensive runs by Kenny and junior attacker Georgia Hollander.

Roaring Fork had a goal from sophomore Addie Nolan with 3 minutes to play in the half to pull the Rams to within one, 5-4. But Kenny scored back-to-back goals to give the Skiers a comfortable lead at the break.

In the second half, Roaring Fork’s Libby Claassen capitalized when Skiers goalie Bella Haneman was called for stepping out of the crease on a pass-in.

Claassen scored to make it 8-5 with 17 to play, but Kenny, along with her sophomore sister Michaela Kenny and Hollander kept the pressure on as the Skiers built a 12-7 lead inside 10 minutes to play.

Roaring Fork, which combines players from Roaring Fork, Glenwood Springs and Basalt high schools, wasn’t about to give in, though.

Goals from senior co-captains Claassen and Riley Dolan pulled Roaring Fork to within 3 before Aspen junior Mia Seltzer found the net to slow the Rams’ charge, making it 13-9.

But it was Claassen who controlled the draw down the stretch, as the home team rallied to tie it on two goals from Nolan and another pair from sophomore Sophie Hodson and Dolan to knott it at 13 with just over a minute left in regulation.

“Draw controls determine what happens in the game, and Libby coming up with a majority of those in the second half was huge,” Roaring Fork co-head coach Chelsea Robson said.

“Unfortunately, we had one or two lob passes that got picked off in that overtime,” she said. “But this team is totally supportive of each other at all times, regardless of what happens out there. They’ve got great shooting skills and great communication skills, and that’s what makes stuff happen on either end of the goal.”

Aspen’s Trendell said she has enjoyed watching the young Roaring Fork program improve in just its second season of play, after the 2020 spring season got canceled due to the pandemic.

“I know a lot of the Roaring Fork girls. They’ve been working their butts off training with some of our girls since September, and it clearly shows,” Trendell said. “The more work both of these programs put in during the off season, the more people will get a chance to see some good lacrosse.”

Roaring Fork drops to 4-2 with four games left as the Rams look to move into the top eight in the 4A rankings for playoff seedings. Heading into the weekend, the Rams were ranked 11th.

The Rams are at home Tuesday against Battle Mountain, while Aspen travels to play Summit on Thursday.

Glenwood Springs Post Independent Senior Reporter/Managing Editor John Stroud can be reached at 970-384-9160 or jstroud@postindependent.com.