SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse team opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play here Monday afternoon with a 22-1 setback to Westminster College at Dumke Field.

With the setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 0-5 on the season and 0-1 in the league, while Westminster improves to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the league.

Westminster opened the game by scoring eight times in the first period and added seven more goals in the second period to lead 15-0 at the half. The Griffins opened the third period by scoring five straight goals to push out to a 20-0 lead, before the Pack finally broke through with 2:27 left in the third period thanks to an unassisted goal by redshirt senior attacker Trevor Thompson (Sacramento, Calif./C.K. McClatchy).

Thompson's goal was his second of the season and prevented the Pack from being held scoreless for the first time in the program's nine-year history. In fact, the one goal scored was the fewest in a game in school history as the previous low was two goals against Colorado Mesa on April 11, 2021.

The Griffins would add two more goals in the opening four-plus minutes of the fourth period to complete the scoring.

Westminster totaled 50 shots and put 41 of those shots on goal, while the Pack had just 19 shots, including being held to just eight shots in the first half. 17 of CSU Pueblo's 19 shots were on goal.

The Pack won the faceoff battle, 13-12, but Westminster held a 31-15 edge in ground balls. The Pack were 13-for-25 on face-offs with freshman midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian) collecting 12 face off wins. Westminster was 12-for-25 on face offs.

CSU Pueblo committed nine turnovers to just six for Westminster and the Pack failed to take advantage of their five extra man opportunities as they were 0-for-5 on the day, while Westminster was 1-for-2.

Freshmen midfielders Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) and Chris Easley (Southington, Conn./Weber) each took three shots for the Pack, while Thompson, senior attacker Logan Naves (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Highlands Ranch) and junior midfielder Kevin Gallagher (Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) each took two shots in the game.

Naves, Campbell, senior midfielder Ian Noonan (Wilmington, Del./University of Tampa) and freshman defender Alex Kragen (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) each had two ground balls on the day.

Westminster got five goals and an assist from Merritt McMahon, four goals from Ryan Kuptz and Keenan Knop added three goals in the win. Hagen Buchanan collected a team-high four ground balls and was 7-for-12 on face-offs.

Graduate student Ethan Ferrie (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) started the game in goal for Pack and played the entire first half and 14 seconds of the third period before being replaced by freshman Connor Russell (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven). Russell would play nearly 19 minutes in goal, before giving way in the fourth period to freshman Zane Lassberg (Houston, Texas/Westside), who made his collegiate debut on Monday.

Ferrie finished the game with 13 saves and 15 goals allowed, while Russell had three saves and allowed seven goals and Lassberg did not allow a goal and made three saves.

The Griffins also played three goalies in Monday's game as Jacob Miller started and played the entire first half and recorded a shutout and had seven saves. Christian Jones played nearly 20 minutes in goal and had eight saves and allowed one goal, while Charles Stemen played the final 10-plus minutes and made one save.

CSU Pueblo, who will play its first seven games on the road before playing a game at home this season, will now take 12 days off before returning to action on March 18-20 as they travel to St. Louis, Mo., for an 11 a.m. CT game on Saturday, March 18 at Maryville University, before traveling to Quincy, Ill., for a 6 p.m. CT game on Monday, March 20 at Quincy University. The Pack's first home game is scheduled for Saturday, April 1 when Adams State comes to town for a 2 p.m. RMAC game at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Stadium.