PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse will conclude the home portion of its 2023 season schedule here this weekend by hosting Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contests against Westminster and Colorado Mesa at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.

The ThunderWolves will open the weekend with a 4 p.m. game on Friday, April 14 against Westminster and then conclude the home schedule on Sunday, April 16 against Colorado Mesa at 3 p.m. Friday's game with Westminster will mark Senior Day for the Pack as they will honor their three seniors in a pregame ceremony.

The three Pack seniors being recognized at Friday's game are defender Jillian Kelly (Pueblo, Colo./Centennial), midfielder Caira Lessick (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City) and midfielder Sedona Sargent (Bellingham, Wash./Sehome).

CSU Pueblo, who is coached by interim first year coach Taylor Christensen, comes into this weekend's action sporting a 1-8 overall record and an 0-5 mark in the RMAC after suffering a 17-9 loss at home last Friday against Fort Lewis. Overall, the Pack have lost four straight games since picking up its lone win of the 2023 season on March 21 at Erskine College. The Pack won that game over Erskine, 21-5.

Offensively, the Pack have scored 99 goals in nine games and are averaging 11.0 goals per game as freshman midfielder Elise Magee (Port Moody, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best Secondary) leads the way with 19 goals and has added four assists for 23 points. Freshman midfielder Katie Broom (Houston, Texas/Spring) is right behind Magee in goals with 18, but leads the team and is second in the RMAC in assists with 16 and also has a team-leading 34 points.

Sargent and Lessick are third and fourth on the team in goals with 15 and 14 respectively and those two players have combined for 11 assists and 40 points as Sargent has seven assists and 22 points and Lessick has four assists for 18 points.

On the season, six Pack players have tallied double-digit goals on the year as along with Magee, Broom, Sargent and Lessick, junior midfielder Baylee Mee (Reno, Nev./Galena) and sophomore attacker Parker Delp (Kent Island, Md./Kent Island) have each scored 12 respectively.

In addition to Broom's team-leading 14 assists, Sargent has tallied seven assists, while Mee has six assists.

Sargent has taken a team-leading 47 shots, while Broom is second with 42 shots and Lessick is third with 34 shots. Magee has taken 33 shots, while Mee and Delp have recorded 29 and 28 shots respectively.

Lessick leads the team and is second in the league in draw controls per game at 5.56 as she has recorded 50 in nine games. In addition to Lessick, Broom is sixth in the league in draw controls per game and has recorded 32, while Mee has had 29 draw controls on the year.  

Mee, though, leads the team in ground balls with 24, while Lessick has collected 17 ground balls and Broom has had 14 on the year.

Defensively, the Pack are allowing 17.1 goals per game and have caused 73 turnovers, while their opponents have had 149 turnovers in nine games. Mee leads the way with 12 caused turnovers and is averaging 1.33 per game, which is fifth-best in the RMAC. CSU Pueblo has allowed double-digit goals in eight of its nine games and have allowed 20 or more goals three times.

In goal, sophomore Naomi Price-Burton (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) has played every minute this season in net as has recorded 64 saves and has allowed 154 goals as she has faced 302 shots. Her 7.1 saves per game are fourth-best in the RMAC, while her 17.11 goals-against-average is sixth in the RMAC.

ABOUT WESTMINSTER
Westminster comes into Friday's game with CSU Pueblo sporting a 3-4 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the RMAC, but the Griffins have lost three straight since opening the 2023 season with three consecutive victories, including a 21-18 home win over the Pack in Salt Lake City on March 10.

The Griffins latest loss came this past Saturday as they fell 20-4 at No. 3 ranked Regis and that loss came two days after a 17-7 setback at UCCS. Westminster's other loss in league play came at Colorado Mesa on March 1 as the Griffins fell 18-7 to the Mavericks.

As a team, Westminster has scored 58 goals and is averaging 11.6 goals per game with graduate student Lauren Shoughro leading the way with 18 goals and also leads the team in points with 18. In addition to Shoughro, freshman Shania Shoughro and sophomore Celia Fidanza have each scored nine goals on the year.

The Griffins have only recorded 10 assists on their 58 goals this season with Shaina Shoughro leading the way with three, while Fidanza has had two assists.

The Shoughro sisters are the team's top two shot takers as Lauren leads the way with 38 and Shania is second with 20 shots. Celia Fidanza and freshman Hunter Doyle have each taken 17 shots.

Lauren Shoughro leads the team in draw controls with 24, while Shaina Shoughro is second with 17 and freshman Courtney McCabe has had 10 draw controls.

Three Griffins have recorded double-digit ground balls as Lauren Shoughro, McCabe and sophomore Gabriella Cheminant have each had 11 ground balls to pace the Griffins.

Defensively, the Griffins have recorded 29 caused turnovers with Shaina Shoughro leading the way with five, while McCabe and senior Madalyn DeGarlais have each had four on the season.

Cheminant has played each and every minute in goal for the Griffins this season as she has recorded 32 saves and has allowed 84 goals. She is averaging 6.40 saves per game on the year and her 16.80 goals-against-average is fifth-best in the RMAC.

Westminster is coached by Jannel Snow, who is in her first season directing the Griffins. As a collegiate player at Mount St. Mary's, she lettered for four years and holds the school's all-time record for draw controls with 191.

Friday's game will mark the 10th all-time meeting and second meeting this season between the two schools with Westminster holding a 5-4 lead in the all-time series. The Griffins have won two of the last three meetings in the series, including collecting a 21-18 win earlier this season in Salt Lake City.

ABOUT COLORADO MESA
Colorado Mesa, who plays at Fort Lewis on Friday before traveling to Pueblo for Sunday's game, comes into this week's action sporting a 5-5 overall record and a 4-1 mark in the RMAC with the lone league loss coming at No. 3 ranked Regis last Thursday, 17-11. Following that loss to Regis, the Mavericks picked up a win in their most recent outing last Saturday as they earned a 15-7 win at UCCS.

Since opening the 2023 season with three wins in its first four games, including a 20-5 home win over CSU Pueblo, the Mavericks have gone just 2-4 with three of those losses coming during its trip to Florida where they fell at Saint Leo (13-7), at Rollins (13-9) and at Florida Southern (24-12), who were the 2016 NCAA Division II National Champions.

As a team, Mesa has scored 136 goals and is averaging 13.6 goals per game with redshirt junior Kiley Davis leading the way with an RMAC-leading 38 goals. Davis is averaging 3.8 goals per game and has added eight assists for 46 points. Her 4.60 points per game and her 46 total points as also tops in the RMAC. In addition to Davis, four Mavs have scored double-digit goals with freshman Justine Anderson having scored 17 goals and eight assists for 25 points, while redshirt junior Taylor Jakeman has scored 15 goals. Sophomore Ali Bryant and freshman Carson Dickey have each scored 10 goals.

Bryant leads Mesa in assists with 14, while junior Payton Ivey have recorded 10 assists. The Mavs have recorded 81 assists on 136 goals this season and are averaging a league-leading 8.1 assists per game, which is eighth-best nationally in Division II.

Davis has taken 65 shots and is averaging 5.0 shots on goal per game, which is second-best in the league. In addition to Davis, Anderson has taken 32 shots, while Bryant and Jakeman have each taken 27 shots.

Bryant leads the league in draw controls with 59 and is averaging an RMAC-best 5.90 draw controls per game. In addition to Bryant, sophomore Emme Rezoski has recorded 32 draw controls and Ivey has had 20.

The Mavs are averaging 19.20 ground balls per game as they have recorded 192 in 10 games and have seven players with 10 or more ground balls. Sophomore goalie Shannon Murphy leads the way with 31 ground balls, while Bryant is second with 21 and junior Taylor Scott is third with 16 ground balls.

Defensively, the Mavs have recorded 113 caused turnovers and are allowing just 11.3 goals per game. Kelsey Viger leads the way with a league-leading 28 caused turnovers as she averages 2.8 per game, while Ivey is second on the team with 11 caused turnovers.

Murphy is one of the top goalies in the RMAC as she has recorded 75 saves and is third in the league in saves per game at 7.5 and her 40.1 save percentage is fourth-best in the RMAC. In addition, she is second in the league with an 11.25 goals-against-average.

Mesa is coached by Shannon McHale, who is in her third season with the Mavs in 2023. Since arriving in Grand Junction, McHale has led the Mavs to back-to-back second place finishes in the RMAC as they were 7-1 in league play in 2021 and 10-2 last season. In her two-plus seasons at Mesa, McHale has compiled a 26-16 overall record and is 21-4 in RMAC games as the Mavs coach.

Sunday's game will mark the 15th all-time meeting the series and second this season between the two schools. Mesa has won all 14 previous meetings, including collecting a 20-5 win earlier this season in Grand Junction. The Mavs lead the series 7-0 in both Pueblo and Grand Junction and are 9-0 against the Pack in RMAC games.