PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse will return to action this coming Thursday, May 4 as they travel to Grand Junction, Colo., for a 7 p.m. match-up against Westminster (Utah) in the semifinal round of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament that will be hosted by regular season league champion Colorado Mesa.

The Pack are the No. 3 seed in this year's RMAC Tournament as they will face No. 2 seeded Westminster in the second of Thursday's two semifinal round games. The first semifinal features top-seeded and 12th-ranked Colorado Mesa facing No. 4 seeded Adams State at 4 p.m. at Community Hospital Unity Field.

Thursday's RMAC Tournament semifinal game with Westminster will mark the second-ever RMAC Tournament meeting between the two schools as the Griffins defeated the Pack, 16-6 in the semifinals of the 2021 RMAC Tournament. Overall, the Pack is 0-4 in the tournament all-time, including falling 17-10 in the semifinals to Colorado Mesa at Salt Lake City, Utah.

In addition, it will be the third meeting this season between the two schools as Westminster won both regular season meetings – 22-1 in Salt Lake City on March 6 and 25-11 in Pueblo on April 7. Westminster leads the all-time series, 15-1 and has won 12 consecutive games in the series since the Pack picked up a 14-12 win in Pueblo on March 31, 2017.

CSU Pueblo, who is coached by Sean Blair, enters Thursday's RMAC Tournament semifinal game with Westminster sporting a 1-12 overall record and finished third in the RMAC with a 1-5 record. The Pack's lone win came this season came at home against Adams State (11-6) on April 1. The Pack, though, haven't played since concluding the regular season with a 22-3 setback last Friday at Colorado Mesa.

Offensively, the Pack have scored 84 goals in 13 games and are averaging 6.5 goals per game as freshman midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) leads the way with 19 goals and has added eight assists for 27 points. Senior attacker Logan Naves (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Highlands Ranch) is second in goals with 14 and has a team-best 12 assists for 26 points and freshman midfielder Nathan Liderman (Bend, Ore./Summit) has scored 13 goals and has 16 points thanks to his three assists.

Overall, seven Pack players have tallied five or more goals on the season and three players have had eight or more assists as along with Naves' 12 assists, senior midfielder Ian Noonan (Wilmington, Del./University of Tampa) has had 10 assists and Lessley has recorded eight.

Lessley has taken a team-high 67 shots and has put 36 of those shots on goal, while Naves has taken 49 shots and put 33 shots on goal for a 67.3 shots on goal percentage. Freshman midfielder Chris Easley (Southington, Conn./Weber) is the only Pack player that has taken over 30 shots this season as he has taken 34 and put 17 of them on goal.

Freshman midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian) has been the primary face-off person for the Pack this season as he is 94-for-243 on face-offs. In addition, sophomore midfielder Harley Williams (Edmonton, Alberta/Dominican University) is 9-for-42 on face-offs and senior midfielder Turner Dirk (Strathmore, Alberta/Holy Trinity Academy) is 6-for-19 on face-offs.

Defensively, the Pack are allowing 15.7 goals per game and have caused 78 turnovers and collected 254 ground balls heading into the postseason.

Junior defender Cornelius Healy (Keller, Texas/Keller) leads the way in ground balls with 35, while Dirk has had 30 and graduate student goalie Ethan Ferrie (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) has had 28. Healy and Dirk have combined to cause 25 turnovers as Healy leads the way with 15 and Dirk has had 10. Healy is third in the RMAC in caused turnovers per game as he is averaging 3.6 per game.

Ferrie, who was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday, leads the way in goal for the Pack as he has recorded 204 saves and has allowed 185 goals. He leads the league in both save percentage (52.4 percent) and saves per game (15.8) and is coming off a school record 29 saves last Friday at Colorado Mesa.

ABOUT WESTMINSTER
Westminster comes into Thursday's RMAC semifinal match-up with the Pack sporting a 7-7 overall record and the Griffins went 4-2 in the RMAC to earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Griffins comes into the postseason having won two of its last three games to close the regular season with the lone loss being a 14-13 setback at home to Colorado Mesa. The Griffins rebounded from that loss to end the regular season with a 20-4 home win over Adams State.

As a team, Westminster has scored 163 goals in 12 games and is averaging 13.6 goals per game. The Griffins have scored double-digit goals in 10 of its 12 games, including a season high 25 goals in the second game this season against CSU Pueblo. Merritt McMahon leads the Griffins and is second in the league in goals scored with 27 and is averaging 2.9 goals per game.

In addition to McMahon, Luke Sillstrop is second in goals with 26 and is averaging 2.3 goals per game and has added two assists for 28 points. Joseph Celentano is the Westminster player to score 20 or more goals this season as he has tallied 22 goals and 26 points overall on the year.

McMahon leads the team in points with 32 as he has five assists to go along with his 27 goals, while Sillstrop is second in points with 28 and Celentano is third in points with 26.

Skyler Weathers leads in assists with 14 and has added 10 goals for 24 points, while Mike Spaeth has had 13 assists and Andrew Thomas has added 12 assists for the Griffins.

McMahon is one of two Westminster players to have taken 70 or more shots on the season as he has recorded 72 shots, while Celentano has taken 70 shots. Camden Rossi has added 59 shots and Sillstrop has taken 51 shots.
Hagen Buchanan is second in the league in face-off wins with 127 as he is 127-for-235 on the season. His 54.6 face-off percentage is second best in the league.

Defensively, the Griffins have caused 69 turnovers and have allowed 145 goals as they are allowing 12.1 goals per game on the year. The Griffins have also collected 399 ground balls, which are second most in the league behind Mesa's league-leading 671.

Buchanan leads the team in ground balls with 59 and is averaging nearly five per game, which is second-best in the RMAC. In addition to Buchanan, Carson Capps is second with 28 and McMahon is third with 26. Overall, four Griffins have recorded 20 or more groundballs on the season. Capps and Timothy McGuire have been credited with 11 and 10 caused turnovers on the year.

The Griffins have had three different players play in goal this season with Jacob Miller being the team's primary goalie. Miller has played in all 14 games and has made 127 saves and has allowed 145 goals. His 9.57 saves per game are second-best in the RMAC, while his 11.42 GAA is tops in the RMAC.

Westminster is coached by Joe Kerwin, who is in his fourth season as the Griffins' head coach in 2023 after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant coach. In his time as an assistant, he was a part of two RMAC Championships.

Here is a breakdown of CSU Pueblo's RMAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament history.

2022 @Westminster
#3 seed – lost in semifinals to #2 seed Colorado Mesa, 17-10
2021 @Colorado Mesa
#3 seed – lost in semifinals to #2 seed Westminster, 16-6
2020
No Tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
2019 @Westminster
#3 seed – lost in semifinals to #2 seed Colorado Mesa, 18-11
2018 @Colorado Mesa
#4 seed – lost in semifinals to #1 seed Colorado Mesa, 32-6