PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse concluded its three-game homestand here Sunday afternoon with a 20-8 setback to Concordia University Irvine in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Art and Lorraine Gonzales Stadium.
 
With the setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 0-7 overall and 0-2 in the RMAC, while CUI improved to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the RMAC.
 
The Pack offense was keyed by a combined five goals from sophomore attackers Andrew Dzubak (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Mount Saint Vincent) and Kyle Parker (Hamilton, New Zealand/Northland College) as Dzubak had three goals and added an assist, while Parker scored two goals and had three assists.
 
CSU Pueblo also collected a season-high 52 ground balls against the Golden Eagles and those 52 ground balls are third most in a game in school history. The school record for ground balls is 57 at Johnson & Wales on April 13, 2018. The Pack also committed a school record 36 turnovers in the game.
 
Senior midfielder CJ Rowe (Indianapolis, Ind./Concordia-Chicago) led the way with a career-high eight ground balls, while freshman goalie Cole Rutz (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) added four. For the game, 20 different Pack players collected a ground ball in the contest.
 
CUI scored the first nine goals of the game, including holding an 8-0 lead after the first period, before the Pack used an unassisted goal off a face-off by sophomore midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian). The goal was the first of the season for Campbell as he won three face-offs for the game.
 
Following Campbell's goal, CUI added two more goals to take an 11-1 lead with 7:11 left in the second period. Dzubak would get his goal of the game off an assist by Parker with 6:07 left in the period. The Golden Eagles capped the scoring in the period with an unassisted goal by Matt Carresi with 58 seconds left to give CUI a 12-2 halftime lead.
 
The Pack opened the third period with two straight goals as freshman defender Jackson Wheat (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) scored the first goal just four-plus minutes into the period and about 90 seconds later, Parker added his first goal off an assist by Dzubak to cut the CUI lead to 12-4.
 
After Nick Beeson scored an unassisted goal with 4:37 left in the third period, the Pack used a goal by sophomore midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewodd) that was assisted by Parker to pull within 13-5. With the score 14-5, Dzubak capped the Pack's scoring in the third period with a goal assisted by Parker. Max Texter scored a goal with 2:08 left in the period to give CUI a 15-6 lead heading into the final period.
 
In the fourth perod, the Golden Eagles outscored the Pack, 5-2, to set the final margin. The Pack's goals in the fourth period came from Dzubak and Parker.
 
The Pack were outshot 61-25 in the game as Dzubak led the way with seven shots, while Lessley and Parker each took five shots.
 
CSU Pueblo also caused 18 turnovers in the game as the Golden Eagles had 26 turnovers in the game. Rowe and sophomore defender Bergen Anderson (Lincoln, Neb./Southwest) each had three caused turnovers on the day.
 
Rutz played the first half in goal for the Pack and finished with six saves and five ground balls, while allowing 12 goals. Sophomore Connor Russell (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) played the second half in goal as he collected eight saves, had four ground balls, a caused turnover and allowed eight goals.
 
CUI got its 20 goals from 11 different players as Chad McFadden led the way with five, while Drew Buckley added three goals. Carresi, Beeson and and Bobby McCuskey each had two goals in the win. The Golden Eagles also had nine assists.
 
For the game, CUI took 61 shots and had 61 ground balls and was 26-for-32 on face-offs. Cade Poe had 10 ground balls and was 11-for-14 on face-offs.
 
Wyatt Groenevald played all 60 minutes in goal and finished with four saves, four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
The Pack will now hit the road next weekend for two consecutive RMAC games as they begin the road swing on Thursday, March 28 with a 7 p.m. game at Colorado Mesa and concludes the road trip with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, March 30 at Westminster.