When Mead and Fairview girls lacrosse face off, a “family” affair meets fierce competition. Such was the case in the Knights’ 12-8 home win over the Mavericks on Monday night.

The Knights, who entered the contest ranked No. 4 in CHSAA’s Class 5A Selection & Seeding Index, had to shake off a thin 7-6 lead at the half to blow past 4A’s sixth-ranked Mavericks in the end. A four-goal scoring tangent over the span of two quarters sealed the deal for Fairview, who just had a little extra juice on both the offensive and defensive ends.

Fairview’s program split into two — with St. Vrain Valley School District players heading over to the district team at Mead — three seasons ago. Mead senior midfielder Lucy Connors has cherished the meeting between the two teams ever since.

She scored 22 goals with 25 assists for the Knights as a freshman.

“It’s so fun,” Connors said. “I’ve coached some of the (Fairview) sophomores and freshmen. I played with most of the seniors, and then when I was in the program, of course, I was with the coaches and stuff. It’s great to see them and have some friendly competition.

“(This game) lets us know what we need to work on, what we’re doing good at. I mean, they’re a great team, and I think they’re going to do really well in 5A. It’s nice that we get to play them and see some friendly faces, stuff like that, and then also have a good, competitive game.”

Connors, the reigning BoCoPreps.com player of the year, led the Mavericks with four goals. The Knights spread the ball around a bit more thanks to freshman attacker Emmy Leonard and sophomore middy Lucy Catlin, who each netted a hat trick.

Both teams finished state runner-up in their respective classifications last year, but they likewise lost a lot of talent. Mead bid adieu to two of its top goal scorers in Sierra Ryan and Rory Carr, but returned its ace with Connors. The Mavericks also switched coaches, from Katie Bergmann to Rachel Class, in the offseason.

They’re 5-3 after Monday’s loss to the Knights.

“They definitely have different coaching styles. Coach Class is definitely more laid-back, but it has been working really well for us. I think we’re doing really well in that environment,” Connors said. “It’s definitely a different situation, but I think it’s been really good for us to see some of the younger girls or even the older girls that didn’t get much action last year get some more confidence and build that up.”

The Knights, by contrast, returned plenty of strong pieces from last year’s runner-up squad, but injuries have been plentiful through the first half of the spring season. Instead of relying on the talent of their all-star twins — Tessa and Gabby McCollester, who are both out with torn ACLs — they’ve leaned more on their underclassmen to carry them to victory.

This Fairview team, which now boasts a 6-2 record, is about as deep as the Mariana Trench.

“We all work together really well and we all trust each other, so that really helps,” Catlin said. “I feel like having so much depth just shows how great of a team we are, and it’s awesome having such talented freshmen.”