From an outside perspective, the Fairview girls lacrosse season would look cursed with the number of injuries its team’s top players have sustained. On Wednesday night on their home turf, however, the Knights proved just how high they can rise above all the noise.

The Knights, seeded fourth in the Class 5A state playoffs, pummeled No. 13 Pine Creek with a 15-8 score to begin their postseason ride back to what they hope will be a second consecutive appearance in the state championship.

Last year, they finished runner-up to Colorado Academy, which won the crown in a 15-3 showing.

Back at that time, freshman attacker Alex Kang was in the stands at the University of Denver cheering her future team on.

“That was obviously just such a big loss, and I feel like it just makes us even more hungry for that championship,” Kang said. “I personally wasn’t there last year, right, because I’m a freshman now, but their energy carries on to us. That motivates us as well. I also watched the championship, too, so I was kind of there to feel the team.”

Kang served as the Knights’ leading scorer against the Eagles on Wednesday night, netting three goals, and she even threw in an assist for good measure.

Nine ladies in all got on the board to showcase the depth the team has enjoyed, even in the wake of early, season-ending injuries to senior sisters Gabby and Tessa McCollester. Junior defender Addison Tymchenko got hurt just last week, and starting senior goalie Katie Ryan had to miss a few weeks with a leg injury.

The Knights came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and built up a 13-3 advantage by the time the halftime horn sounded. They switched out most of their starters for reserves in the second half to let the Eagles — namely Teigan Neukom — sneak back into contention. Neukom accounted for seven of Pine Creek’s scores.

Kang is just one fish in a sea of freshmen who are bolstering the offense for Fairview. She ranks third on the team in total goals this season with 30, while attacker Emmy Leonard leads with 38 and midfielder Josie Craytor trails just behind at 34.

“I think that we’ve had to ask a lot from our freshmen this year with just the injuries we’ve had to overcome,” head coach Kelsey Sheridan said. “We’ve had three kids go down with ACL injuries (the McCollesters and Tymchenko). They’ve had to pick up the draw job, scoring on attack. We’re super happy with how the freshmen are playing this season.”

That’s not the only strength of this Knights team, which improved to 13-3 with the first-round victory. Their only three losses belong to the three higher seeds — No. 1 Valor Christian, No. 2 ThunderRidge and No. 3 Regis Jesuit.

“Our senior leadership right now is next-level,” Sheridan said. “They’re all playing at the top of the game that I’ve seen out of all of them all four years. We’re super excited that Katie (Ryan) is back in net. We’re super excited that our seniors are playing super well and our freshmen are stepping up. And then we’ve got other contributors in 10th and 11th grade. They’re tying it together at the right time.”

The Knights will now move into the quarterfinals against No. 5 Heritage, hosting those Eagles on Friday. Kang looks forward to seeing how far this deep squad can run.

“This season is so exciting for me personally,” she said. “Playing with the team throughout the season, I feel like that’s worth everything. The championship would be the cherry on top, but just playing with everyone is just as great in my opinion.”