BREVARD, N.C (March 25, 2015 - by Michael Liptak) - The Colorado State University-Pueblo women's lacrosse team earned its second win of the season Wednesday, defeating Brevard College 11-10 in a thriller for the first road victory in program history.
With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 2-7 mid-way through the season, while the Tornados drop to 1-9.
Freshman Rachael Welzin (M, Farmington, Minn.) had a career day for the ThunderWolves, as she had a personal and program-best five goals. Welzin added an assist to finish the game with a team-high six points. She also rounded up a game-high seven groundballs.
Six Pack players overall reached the back of the net. The other five were Kiana Kelii (Fr., A, Bloomington, Minn.) who added two, while Allye Webb (Fr., M, Colorado Springs, Colo.), Alix Zierden (Fr., M, Elk River, Minn.), Rachael Cannon (Fr., M, Temperance, Mich.) and Tori Gray (Fr., M, Parker, Colo.) all added one. For Cannon and Gray it marks their first goals of the season and of their collegiate careers.
Welzin, Gray and Webb each had three caused turnovers to tie for the game-high.
In between the pipes, Nicole Burkhauser (Fr., Auburn, Wash.) accumulated five saves en route to her second win of the season.
Brevard's Caitlyn Nemeth had a game-high six goals and seven total points, as she dished out one assist to go with the goals. Three other Tornadoes achieved goals, including Nina Siu (2), Kat Harrienger (1) and Sade Allen (1).
As a team the ThunderWolves had the advantage in every major category over the Tornados. They outshot them 36-23 (25-15 SOG), outdueled them 12-11 in draw controls and were plus seven in the caused-turnover battle, 19-12. The only advantage Brevard had was in assists at 2-1.
The Tornados opened the first 7:10 of the opening half on a 3-0 run, but over the next 9:17 of game play CSU-Pueblo answered back with its own 3-0 run to tie the contest 3-3 with 13:33 remaining in the stanza. Welzin was responsible for two goals, while Kelii pitched in one marker during the run.
The trend of 3-0 runs continued, as Brevard registered its second 3-0 run of the half to take a 6-3 lead with 4:12 before the break. Cannon tallied her lone point of the contest 37 seconds before the intermission to cut the lead to two, at 6-4, at the halftime break.
Brevard's Nemeth scored 11 seconds into the second period, helping the home team regain a three-point advantage at 7-4.
ThunderWolves scored a few minutes later thanks to Welzin's third tally of the match to cut the deficit back to two, at 7-5, but Nemeth answered 35 seconds later to push the Tornados back up three with 24:43 remaining.
CSU-Pueblo wasn't phased, as over the next 2:11 of game play it had a 3-0 outburst to tie the contest 8-8 at the 21:02 mark. Three different players attributed to run, as Zierden, Kelii, and Gray reached the back of the net.
From there the squads traded punches, Nemeth hit another shot, then Webb responded with her only tally of the contest to tie it 9-9 with 16:30 left in the game. Nemeth broke the tie 4:19 later to give Brevard a 10-9 advantage, but Welzin responded shortly after with her fourth goal of the contest for a 10-10 tie with 10:39 remaining in regulation.
Welzin capped off her career-day with her fifth and final score of the contest four minutes later in what proved to be the winning goal in the match. CSU-Pueblo's defense held its ground the final 6:39 to walk away with the 11-10 victory over the Tornados.
The ThunderWolves will cap off their three-game road trip Friday against Chowan University (N.C) at 1 p.m. (MDT).
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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.
