PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse opened the home portion of its 2023 schedule here Saturday afternoon by posting an 11-6 victory in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play over Adams State on Senior Day at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.

With the win, the ThunderWolves win their first game of the season as they move to 1-7 overall and 1-0 in the RMAC, while Adams State fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the RMAC.

Prior to Saturday's game, the Pack honored its eight seniors. The seniors honored were midfielder Turner Dirk (Strathmore, Alberta/Holy Trinity Academy), midfielder Tyler Gardner (Erie, Colo./Erie), defender Corey Healy (Keller, Texas/Keller), midfielder Kalev Mantai (Calgary, Alberta/Centennial), goalkeeper Darius Miller (Aurora, Colo./Grandview), attacker Logan Naves (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Highlands Ranch), midfielder Ian Noonan (Wilmington, Del./University of Tampa) and attacker Trevor Thompson (Sacramento, Calif./C.K. McClatchy).

In Saturday's game, which was the RMAC opener for both teams, the Pack held a 38-32 edge in shots and forced the Grizzlies into 25 turnovers and scored three goals each in the first three periods to lead 9-5 and then capped the victory with an unassisted goal by freshman midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) with 4:19 left in the game to seal its first victory of the season.

Lessley and freshman midfielder Nathan Liderman (Bend, Ore./Summit) each recorded hat tricks in the win, while Naves added two goals and three assists for five points. Lessley recorded two assists in the win.

Naves got the scoring started in the first 45 seconds of the game as he took a pass from Noonan and found the net to give the Pack a 1-0 lead. About 76 seconds later, Liderman tallied an unassisted goal to give the Pack a 2-0 lead just 2:01 into the contest.

Liderman would score a man-up goal off an assist from freshman midfielder Chris Easley (Southington, Conn./Weber) with 6:25 left in the first period to give the Pack a 3-0 lead.

Dalton Summers would get ASU on the scoreboard with 5:39 left in the first period to cut Pueblo's lead to 3-1.

The Grizzlies would pull within 3-2 just three-plus minutes into the second period on a goal by Travis Hubbard that was assisted by Travis Brave Heart.

CSU Pueblo, though, would rally as they reeled off three straight goals to push its lead to 6-2. The goals came by Liderman off an assist by Naves, freshman midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian) and Naves off an assist by Lessely.

ASU would respond by closing the opening half by using goals from Hubbard and Brave Heart to cut the Pack's lead to 6-4 at the half.

Dawson Balabanoff brought ASU within a goal following his unassisted goal with 9:25 left in the third period, but back-to-back goals by Lessley and a goal from Noonan off an assist by Naves helped the Pack push its lead to four goals at 9-5 heading into the fourth period.

Thompson would get into the scoring action early in the fourth period as he took a pass from Lessley and scored his third goal of the season with 11:25 left in the game.

Brave Heart would take advantage of a man-up situation and scored his second goal of the game with 5:58 remaining to pull ASU within 10-6, but Lessley's third and final goal to complete the hat trick with 4:19 left capped the scoring.

Lessley took 10 of CSU Pueblo's 38 shots, while Naves and Liderman each took six shots.

ASU won the ground ball battle, 31-25 as Liderman had a team-high six for the Pack,

The Grizzlies also won the face-off battle 12-9 as they were 12-for-21 in the game, while CSU Pueblo was 9-for-21. Campbell was 9-for-19 on face-off for the Pack, while Justin Peterson was 12-for-21 for the Grizzlies.

Brave Heart and Hubbard each scored two goals for ASU, while those two combined for 10 shots in the loss.

The Pack recorded 10 caused turnovers on the day with Healy and Dirk each recorded three apiece in the win.

Graduate student goalkeeper Ethan Ferrie (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) finished the game with 15 saves, three ground balls and allowed six goals.

Ryan Berger played all 60 minutes in goal for the Grizzlies as he made 18 saves, had three ground balls and allowed 11 goals.

The Pack will remain at home as they host Westminster (Utah) for a 3 p.m. home RMAC game on Friday, April 7. The meeting will be the second this season between the two schools as Westminster earned a 22-1 win in Salt Lake City on March 6.