PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse opened a three-game homestand here Thursday afternoon with hard-fought 10-9 defeat at the hands of William Jewell College in a non-conference match-up at ALG Stadium.
 
The start of Thursday's game was delayed nearly three hours due to an overnight snowstorm that filled the turf at ALG Stadium with about three inches of snow. Once the field was cleared of snow, the game began and was played with a running clock.
 
With the setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 0-5 on the season, while William Jewell improves to 5-3 in its first season of intercollegiate competition. The Pack will continue its homestand with a 12 p.m. game on Saturday, March 16 against Quincy University.
 
In Thursday's game, the Pack trailed 3-1 early late in the first period, before using a 4-1 flurry over a span of two periods to take a 5-4 lead with 8:11 left in the second period. After WJC closed out the period with goals to lead 6-5 at the half, the Pack opened the third period with two straight goals, including a goal by sophomore midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) off an assist by sophomore attacker Kyle Parker (Hamilton, New Zealand/Northland College) to take a 7-6 lead with 7:55 left in the period.
 
The Cardinals, though, would score four of the game's final six goals, including sealing the win with back-to-back goals by Seth Heath to open the fourth period. Heath's two goals gave the Cardinals a 10-8. The Pack used an unassisted goal by junior midfielder Brett Woolcock (Humble, Texas/Atascocita) to pull within 10-9 with 4:01 remaining in the contest.
 
In the closing two minutes of the game, the Pack had the ball on the attacking end of the field, but a turnover by Lessley with 58 seconds left gave the ball back to the Cardinals.
 
Lessley led the way offensively in Thursday's game as he tallied three goals and added two assists for five points. In addition to Lessley, Woolcock and senior midfielder CJ Rowe (Indianapolis, Ind./Concordia-Chicago) each scored two goals. For the game, five different Pack players scored goals, while Lessley (2), Parker (2) and sophomore attacker Andrew Dzubak (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Mount Saint Vincent) had the Pack assists. The assist for Dzubak was his team-leading 11th of the season.
 
WJC got the scoring started with two goals in a span of two minutes into the opening period to jump in front 2-0,  before Lessley got the Pack on the scoreboard on his unassisted goal with 9:28 left in the period. Rowe would add a goal about six-plus minutes later to pull the Pack within 3-2, but WJC capped the scoring in the first period with a goal by Olivier LaPlante to take a 4-2 lead after 15 minutes of play.
 
The Pack came right back as they opened the second period with goals by Rowe and Parker to tie the game at 4-all and a man-up goal by Dzubak with 8:11 left in the period to give the Pack a 5-4 lead.
 
The Pack lead was shortlived as the Cardinals got goals by Bailey Allard and LePlante to give the visitors its 6-5 halftime lead.
 
Lessley opened the third period with back-to-back goals for the Pack to retake the lead at 7-6 with 7:55 left in the period. WJC retied the game about 64 seconds later on an unassisted goal by Hudson Parnell and retook the lead at 8-7 on a goal by Hunter Mee with 6:10 left in the period. Woolcock, though, helped the Pack tie the game at 8-all on his goal that was assisted by Lessley with five seconds left in the period.
 
The Cardinals would cap its scoring with Heath's two goals in the fourth period and Woolcock's goal capped the Pack's scoring with 4:01 remaining.
 
The Pack were outshot 33-30 in the game as Lessley led the way with seven shots, while Parker took six shots and Dzubak added five shots.
 
The Pack won the ground ball battle, 29-28 as junior midfielder Luke Mummert (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque) led the way with four, while sophomore midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian) and Parker each had three on the day.
 
WJC held a 13-9 edge in faceoff wins as freshman midfielder Devin MacFarlane (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain) was 4-for-7 in the game on face-offs for the Pack. Mee, who is the younger brother of CSU Pueblo women's lacrosse player Baylee Mee, was 9-for-11 on face-offs for the Cardinals.
 
The Pack forced William Jewell in 15 turnovers and were credited with nine caused turnovers in the game with freshmen defenders Logan Place (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail) and Jackson Wheat (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) each recording two in the game.

Both teams were strong on their clear attempts in the game as the Pack were 13-for-17 and William Jewell was 13-for-16. 
 
Freshman Cole Rutz (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) played all 60 minutes in the cage for the Pack and recorded eight saves and had two ground balls.
 
WJC got two goals each from LePlante and Heath, while Mee finished the game with 10 ground balls to go along with his goal and nine face-off wins. Fynn Ziebarth (4-3) picked up the win goal for the Cardinals as he made 14 saves, allowed nine goals, and had three ground balls.