PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse opened the Taylor Christensen era here Wednesday evening by falling 14-12 to Lewis University in a non-conference game at Art and Lorraine Gonzales Stadium.

Christensen, who played for the ThunderWolves from 2015-19 and was an assistant coach in both 2020 and 2021, is in her first season as the program's interim head coach after longtime former coach Monica Potter stepped down this past November. Christensen is only the second women's lacrosse coach in the program's nine seasons.

"Our kids fought really hard tonight. We had only three substitutes available on the bench," Christensen said following the game. "We have a lot of things we need to improve on, but I also think we did a lot of things well so I'm happy with how we played."

The Pack (0-1) have now dropped their last two season openers since earning a 17-7 win at Maryville (Mo.) to open the 2021 season. Lewis, who played their second of three games on its Spring Break trip to Colorado on Wednesday, improved to 3-2 on the season and 2-0 against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as the Flyers picked up an 11-7 win on Tuesday in Alamosa, Colo., against Fort Lewis.

CSU Pueblo had Wednesday's season opener tied at 11-all following a free position goal by freshman midfielder Katie Broom (Houston, Texas/Spring) with 11:16 left in the fourth period. But Lewis would score three straight goals over a span of five-plus minutes to push in front 14-11.

Broom would complete the scoring on another free position goal with two minutes left, but the Flyers won the ensuing draw and were able to keep the Pack off the scoreboard to hang on for the victory in the first-ever meeting in women's lacrosse between the two schools.

Broom and freshman midfielder Elise Magee each tallied three goals for the Pack, while senior midfielder Sedona Sargent (Bellingham, Wash./Sehome) added two goals on the night. In fact, seven different Pack players scored at least one goal in the game.

The biggest difference in Wednesday's game was the first period as Lewis opened the game by scoring four consecutive goals in the opening 11-plus minutes to action and led 4-1 at the opening 15 minutes of play.

From the point, CSU Pueblo would outscore the Flyers, 11-10, over the final three periods of play.

Trailing 4-0, Magee would score the first goal of the Christensen era with 1:42 left in the opening period.

After Carlie Serritella scored her third goal of the game just 87 seconds into the second period to give Lewis a 5-1 lead, the Pack would use goals from Magee, Sargent and senior midfielder Caira Lessick (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City) to pull within 6-4. A goal by Emma Stanek gave Lewis a 7-4 lead, but junior midfielder Baylee Mee (Reno, Nev./Galena) scored an unassisted goal with 1:51 left in the period to cut Lewis' lead to 7-5 at the half.

The Pack would open the third period with free position goals from Magee and Sargent early in the third period to tie things up at 7-all. After a goal by Daniella Wintenik helped Lewis retake the lead at 8-7, the Pack would get free position goals from freshman Katie Schimpf (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway) and sophomore attacker Parker Delp (Kent Island, Wash./Kent Island) to take a 9-8 lead. The lead was the first of the game for the Pack.

Lewis would then score two consecutive goals over the final three minutes of the third period to retake the lead at 10-9 and then pushed its lead to 11-9 in the opening three minutes of the fourth period on a man-up goal by Serritella that was assisted by Sydney Able.

The Pack, though, used back-to-back goals from Broom, the latter being a free position goal, to retie the game at 11-all with 11:16 left in the contest.

For the game, the Pack were outshot, 39-28, but held a 23-22 edge in shots on goal. Broom and Sargent led the way with six shots each, while Mee, Delp and Magre had four shots in the loss.

Serritella had four goals for Lewis, while Meltonique Bowen had three and Alyssa Davidson and Stanek each had two goals in the win.

Lewis also held a 16-11 edge in ground ball, but the Pack held a 12-10 advantage in caused turnovers, including two each from Delp, Lessick and freshman defender Michiah Leeper (Limon, Colo./Limon).

The Pack were 8-for-13 on free position shots, while Lewis was 2-for-4, but the Flyers held an 18-12 edge in draw controls, including a 9-5 edge in the first half. Mee (6) and Lessick (5) combined for 11 of the Pack's 12 draw controls, while Davidson had half of the Flyers' in the game.

Sophomore Naomi Price-Burton (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) made her debut in goal for the Pack and she faced 39 shots, allowed 14 goals and made eight saves.

"Naomi was a field player last season and I thought she rocked it tonight in goal," the Pack coach added.

Kaitlyn Palmer played the entire game in goal for the Flyers and allowed 12 goals, while recording 11 saves.

The Pack will return to action this coming Friday, March 10 as they travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to open RMAC play against Westminster at 4 p.m., and then will travel to Grand Junction, Colo., for a 1 p.m. RMAC game on Sunday, March 12 against Colorado Mesa.