PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse team closed out the home portion of its 2023 schedule here Wednesday evening by suffering a 12-6 setback to Colorado College in a non-conference contest at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.
 
With Wednesday's setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 1-10 overall and dropped its third straight game, while Colorado College moves to 7-6 overall on the season.
 
The biggest difference in Wednesday's game, which was the fourth and final home game of the season for the Pack, was the third period as the Tigers outscored the Pack 6-1 to push its 6-1 halftime lead to 12-2. The Pack scored four goals in the fourth period to close the gap.
 
Six different Pack players scored in Wednesday's game as senior attacker Logan Naves (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Highlands Ranch) and redshirt senior attacker Trevor Thompson (Sacramento, Calif./C.K. McClatchy) each recorded two points as along with a goal, they both had an assist in the game.
 
CC opened the game by scoring three goals in the first and opened the second period by scoring the first three goals to take a 6-0 lead with 1:50 left in the period. The Pack would score right before halftime as senior midfielder Turner Dirk (Strathmore, Alberta/Holy Trinity Academy) posted an unassisted goal with five seconds left in the second period. The goal by Dirk was his first of the season and second of his collegiate career.
 
The Tigers scored six goals in the third period, before the Pack closed the period with an assisted goal by freshman midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) with 30 seconds left in the period. Lessley's goal push his season total to 15, which is tops on the team.
 
CSU Pueblo opened the fourth period with a man-up goal by junior midfielder Ezra Terry (Shreveport, La./Hendrix) off an assist by Thompson just two-plus minutes into the period to cut CC's lead to 12-3.
 
About 57 seconds later, Thompson scored an unassisted goal to pull with Pack within 12-4.
 
Naves would his only goal of the game with 6:15 left in the period to cut CC's lead to 12-5. The goal by Naves was his 13th of the season and 36th of his career.
 
Sophomore attacker Johnny Cole (University Place, Wash./Curtis Senior) would cap the scoring on a goal with 4:20 left in the game. Cole's goal was assisted by Naves, which was his 10th assist of the year.
 
The Pack were outshot, 41-24, including 21-10 in the first half. Cole took four shots, while Naves, Lessley, freshman midfielder Nathan Liderman (Bend, Ore./Summit) and junior defender Corey Healy (Keller, Texas/Keller) each took three shots.
 
Thomas Power, Jack Haims and Karsten Nyardy each scored two goals for the Tigers.
 
CC also won the ground ball battle, 32-30, as Healy picked up eight ground balls, while freshman midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian) had five in the loss.
 
Both teams were strong on clears in the game as CC was 21-for-28 and the Pack was 26-for-31, but the Tigers went 14-for-22 on face-offs, while the Pack was just 8-for-22 on face-offs.
 
The game featured 54 turnovers as the Pack committed 30 turnovers as they had 15 each half, while CC had 24 turnovers. The Pack were credited with 14 caused turnovers as Healy had four.
 
Graduate student goalie Ethan Ferrie (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) played three periods and recorded 15 saves and allowed 12 goals. Freshman Zane Lassberg (Houston, Texas/Westside) played the fourth period and didn't allow a goal and made one save.
 
CC played two goalies in Wednesday's game as Ben Anastos played 41-plus minutes and allowed one goal and made two saves, while Eli Turovsky allowed five goals and made three saves in his 18-plus minutes of action.
 
The Pack will return to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this coming Saturday, April 22 as they travel to Alamosa, Colo., for a 12 p.m. game at Adams State. The Pack collected its lone win of the season with an 11-6 home win over the Grizzlies on April 1.