PUEBLO, Colo. (March 14, 2015)- In their second home contest of the season, the Colorado State University-Pueblo women's lacrosse team fell 15-7 to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Fort Lewis College, in their closest match to date for the first-year program.
The defeat sends the ThunderWolves to 0-4 (0-2 RMAC), while the Skyhawks improve to 2-1 (2-1 RMAC) on the season.
For the second-straight game the Pack improved their season-high in points after notching six their previous game. Freshman Allye Webb (M, Colorado Springs, Colo.) played a big role in the contest, tallying a team-high and career-best three goals in the game. Webb also added an assist, totaling four points. It is the fourth-straight game she has accumulated at least one goal.
Kiana Kelii (Fr., A, Bloomington, Minn.) had a helping hand as well, as she totaled three points in the contest, two of which were goals. Her first goal also happened to be the first of her young collegiate career. Rachael Welzin (Fr., M, Farmington, Minn.) added a goal for her sixth of the year and is tied for a team-high with Webb with six each. Then finally, the last member of CSU-Pueblo to earn a goal was Alix Zierden (Fr., M, Elk River, Minn.), reaching the net for the fourth time this season.
Three Skyhawks came out of the match with a hat-trick, Sara McMahon, Ellie Carpenter, and Taylor Cabrera all had three each. Fort Lewis finished with seven players total who scored in the game.
CSU-Pueblo was outshot 37-16, 34 of the Skyhawks attempts were on goal, while the Pack had nine shots on goal. Nicole Burkhauser (Fr., G, Auburn, Wash.) had a game and career-high 19 saves, versus the Skyhawks' Brie Walker's two.
Fort Lewis had the advantage in ground balls (21-11), draw controls (19-5) and caused turnovers (7-6).
It was the closest match of the season for the young ThunderWolves program thanks to their first-half effort. The Skyhawks opened the frame early with a 2-0 lead after two McMahon goals, but Zierden and Kelii answered back quickly with a goal apiece in span of 2:57 to tie the contest with 18:33 left until halftime.
The Skyhawks went on a 3-0 run to end the stanza and went into the break with a 5-2 lead. They added one more point to the run to open the second period and led 6-2 with 28:35 remaining in the contest. Webb tallied a goal 1:08 later to cut the deficit in half, but Fort Lewis responded with a two-goal outburst to make it 8-3 with 21:35 to go.
CSU-Pueblo then had their own burst of points, going on a 3-0 run to cut the lead to two, trailing 8-6 with 11:07 remaining. Webb had two of the three goals in the spurt. From there the Skyhawks wouldn't look back, as they went on a 6-0 run in a 9:09 span to make it 14-6 with 1:58 in the game, their largest lead of the match. Each squad added another goal for a 15-7 final.
The ThunderWolves will close out the week Sunday when RMAC rival Colorado Mesa University comes to town. Game-time is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Lacrosse Complex.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
