ALAMOSA, Colo. (May 2, 2015) – The Colorado State University-Pueblo men's lacrosse squad narrowly missed its first win in program history as Adams State University edged the ThunderWolves by one goal, 10-9, Saturday. The contest marked the final game of the inaugural season for the Pack.
CSU-Pueblo concludes its first season as a program with a 0-10 overall record and a 0-6 mark in Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association tilts. Adams State wraps up its season with a 4-11 overall mark, including a 3-3 record in league games.
The ThunderWolves finished the game with the edge at the faceoff "X", winning 12-of-21 attempts, including 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter. The Pack also finished with more caused turnovers, 4-2.
Adams State held the statistical edge in shots, 43-27, and ground balls, 32-31. The Grizzlies cleared the ball successfully on 23-of-27 attempts compared to 16-of-24 successful clears for CSU-Pueblo.
Kelton Himmelberg (Jr., Centennial, Colo.) scored a career-high three goals to pace the ThunderWolves offensively. Nick Cervi (Fr., Pueblo, Colo.) tallied two goals for his third, multi-goal game of the season, while Cody Bolen (Fr., Castle Rock, Colo.) also found the back of the net twice for his second, multi-goal contest of the year. Hunter Thompson (Fr., Greenwood Village, Colo.) notched two assists to give him a team-best 11 helpers this season.
Himmelberg also played well on the defensive side of the ball, scooping up a team-high five ground balls and causing a contest-best two turnovers. At the faceoff spot, Kory Mueller (Fr., Milwaukee, Wisc.) won 7-out-of-10 attempts to lead both squads.
In between the pipes, Nick Richards (Fr., Henderson, Nev.) played all 60 minutes and finished the game with eight saves for CSU-Pueblo.
Adams State notched the first goal of the game at the 12:19 mark, but Himmelberg responded for the ThunderWolves 1:03 later with his first goal of the game to even the score at one apiece.
The Grizzlies reeled off four straight markers to pull ahead, 5-1, with 44 ticks remaining in the first quarter.
Bolen stemmed the tide with a goal off of a Thompson assist right before the end of the first quarter to trim the deficit to three, at 5-2, after 15 minutes of play.
Bolen's late, first-quarter goal gave the ThunderWolves some momentum going into the second frame. Himmelberg notched his second tally of the game off of a pass from Garrett Palmer (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz.) just 1:26 into the quarter. Thompson and Cervi connected on a goal to cap a 3-0 run by the Pack with 11:10 showing on the game clock. Cervi's first marker of the game pulled the visitors to within one, at 5-4.
Adams State recorded the next two goals of the game to extend its lead back to three, at 7-4, with 3:05 remaining until halftime.
CSU-Pueblo came right back, scoring two goals in the final two minutes of the first half to cut the Grizzlies' lead to just one, at 7-6, heading into the break. Bolen notched the fifth goal for the Pack, before Cervi found the back of the net with just one second remaining on the game clock for the team's sixth score.
The third quarter was a defensive struggle as neither team was able to put one into the goal until John Beedle scored unassisted with 19 seconds left in the frame. Beedle's goal gave Adams State an 8-6 lead heading into the final quarter.
A goal by the Grizzlies 1:37 into the final period pushed their advantage to three, at 9-6.
The ThunderWolves battled back as Jamil Modaffari (Jr., Pen Yan, N.Y) and Palmer scored a mere 14 seconds apart to pull CSU-Pueblo to within one, at 9-8, once again with 8:03 left in regulation.
Himmelberg brought the Pack all the way back with his third goal of the game and 10th of the season at the 4:34 mark.
The score remained deadlocked at nine until Adams State's Tanner Jones scored with just under two minutes remaining in the contest.
CSU-Pueblo had one last attempt to tie the game, but Modaffari's shot with 13 seconds left was saved by Grizzlies' goalie Alec Hamlin as the home team held on for the victory.
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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.
