GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (April 3, 2015) – The Colorado State University-Pueblo men's lacrosse team fell on the road Friday against Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association foe Colorado Mesa University, 22-6, at Walker Field.
The loss drops the ThunderWolves to 0-9 overall and 0-5 in conference tilts. The Mavericks improve to 5-2 overall and 4-0 in WILA contests.
Colorado Mesa finished the game with the statistical edge in shots, 52-21, ground balls, 50-23, faceoffs won, 23-10, and caused turnovers, 13-7.
Jamil Modaffari (Jr., Pen Yan, N.Y) extended his team-leading goal total to 17 after notching a pair of tallies Friday. Kelton Himmelberg (Jr., Centennial, Colo.) matched Modaffari with two goals of his own. Chas Welch (So. Dacula, Ga.) and Nick Cervi (Fr., Pueblo, Colo.) rounded out the scoring for the ThunderWolves with a goal each. Modaffari, Cervi and Hunter Thompson (Fr., Greenwood Village, Colo.) each recorded an assist for the Pack. It was Thompson's team-leading night helper of the season.
Modaffari tallied a team-high five ground balls, while Thompson, Brian Feiler (Fr., Verona, Wisc.) and Blair Berg (Sr., Farmington, Minn.) each registered a pair of caused turnovers to pace the squad. Kory Mueller (Fr., Milwaukee, Wisc.) won a team-best seven faceoffs.
In goal, Nick Richards (Fr., Henderson, Nev.) notched his second-highest save total of the season, stopping 20 Mavericks' shots. In two games against Colorado Mesa this season, Richards accumulated 42 of his 95 total saves.
The Mavericks jumped out to a 7-0 lead after one quarter of play, before the ThunderWolves got on the scoreboard with 1:53 elapsed in the second quarter. Himmelberg notched his first goal of the game off of an assist by Thompson to trim the deficit to six, at 7-1.
Colorado Mesa ended the first half on a 4-1 scoring run to take an 11-2 advantage into the intermission. Welch found the back of the net for the Pack for their second marker of the contest.
Cervi opened the second-half scoring for CSU-Pueblo, tallying his fifth goal of the game off of a pass from Modaffari to pull the ThunderWolves to within eight, at 11-3.
After a Maverick's score, Modaffari notched his first goal of the game with 4:50 elapsed in the third quarter.
Colorado Mesa opened the game up with a 7-0 spurt to take a 19-4 lead with 9:38 remaining in regulation.
Modaffari ended the Mavericks' run with his second goal of the match and 17th of the season at the 7:41 mark.
The home team outscored the ThunderWolves, 3-1, the rest of the way to earn the 22-6 victory. Himmelberg notched the final goal of the contest for CSU-Pueblo, scoring his seventh marker of the season at the 5:12 mark.
The Pack remain in Grand Junction for an exhibition contest against Westminster College Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
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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.
