PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse began its final homestand of the 2024 season here Friday afternoon as the ThunderWolves scored a season-high 15 goals en route to suffering a 27-15 setback to 15th-ranked Westminster University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at ALG Stadium.
 
With the setback, the Pack fall to 2-11 overall and 1-6 in the RMAC, while Westminster improved to 10-2 overall and 6-1 in the league. The Pack will close out the regular season with a 12 p.m. game at home on Sunday, April 21 against 17th-ranked Colorado Mesa University to celebrate Senior Day.
 
The two teams combined to score 32 goals in the second half of Friday's game, including combining to score 18 goals in the fourth period. Westminster held a 7-3 at the half, before outscoring the Pack, 20-12, in the second half.
 
The 15 goals were the most in a game by the Pack since scoring 18 goals in 2022 against Adams State. In addition, the 27 goals allowed by the Pack since allowing 25 goals last season at home against Westminster.
 
Sophomore attacker Kyle Parker (Hamilton, New Zealand/Northland College) tallied a career-high six goals, while sophomore attacker Andrew Dzubak (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Mount Saint Vincent) added three goals and two assists for five points. The six goals by Parker are tied for the most goals in a game by a Pack player and the most since Aryan Krause scored six goals against Adams State in 2022.
 
In addition to the nine combined goals by Parker and Dzubak, junior attacker Johnny Cole (University Place, Wash./Curtis Senior) and sophomore midfielder Chris Easley (Southington, Conn./Weber) each scored two goals and Cole also had an assist. Parker also added an assist for seven points, which is tied for 10^th most points in a game in school history.
 
After being held to just three goals and eight shots in the first half, the Pack offense recorded 25 shots and scored 12 goals as they tallied five goals in the third period to trail 15-8 after the third period and then they scored seven goals in the fourth period against the Griffins.
 
Westminster led 6-0 after the opening period, but the Pack got on the scoreboard nearly three minutes into the second period on a goal by Dzubak that was assisted by junior midfielder Brett Woolcock (Humble, Texas/Atascocita).
 
The Griffins, though, used a goal by Merrit McMahon with 9:01 left in the period to take a 7-1 lead. Following McMahon's goal, the Pack would close the second period with goals by Cole and Easley to drop WU's lead to 7-3 at the half. Cole's goal was assisted by senior midfielder Kevin Gallagher (Castle Rock, Texas/Castle View) and Dzubak respectively.
 
Parker opened the scoring the third period by scoring an unassisted man-down goal just 20 seconds into the period. Parker's goal pushed the Pack within 7-4.
 
The Griffins, though, came back to score three consecutive goals over a span of two-plus minutes to take a 10-4 lead. Gallagher would stop the Griffins scoring run with an unassisted goal with 8:33 left in the period to pull the Pack within 10-5.
 
Westminster used three straight goals from Daxton Jenson to push the Griffins lead to 13-5. The Pack would come right back as they scored three straight goals, including two by Parker and one from Dzubak to cut WU's lead to 13-8 2:39 left in the period. Parker's first goal was assisted by Woolcock, while his second goal was assisted by sophomore defender Alex Kragen (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley).
 
WU would close the third period by scoring three straight goals over the final 1:44 of the period to take a 16-8 lead heading into the final period.
 
The scoring would be fast and furious in the fourth period as the Pack scored the first two goals of the period from Dzubak and Parker and after Westminster scored six straight goals, including four consecutive man-up goals following a two-minute penalty from sophomore defender Tanner Barnard (Reno, Nev./Reno) to take a 23-10 lead in the game.
 
Cole would stop the Griffins' scoring run with an unassisted goal with 5:06 left in the period. The two teams would combine to score four goals each over the final five minutes of the game to cap the scoring. The Pack's goals came from junior midfielder Caleb Buddington (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa), Easley and two scores from Parker. Those two goals by Parker came with 1:26 left and 34 seconds left in the game.
 
Parker led the Pack with 11 shots and seven shots on goal, while Dzubak took six shots and Cole added five shots. Westminster finished with 55 shots, including 40 shots on goal.
 
Westminster also held a 59-52 edge in ground balls as sophomore midfielder Aaron Bell (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) led the way with eight, while sophomore goalie Connor Russell (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) added seven ground balls. Dzubak and sophomore defender Bergen Anderson (Lincoln, Neb./Southwest) each had six ground balls for the Pack.
 
The Pack did win the face-off battle as they were 23-for-45 on face-offs with Bell win 16 of them. Westminster was 22-for-45 on face-off with Jack Fairbanks winning 17-of-22 in the game.
 
CSU Pueblo was also credited with 20 caused turnovers as Anderson had six of them, which is tied for second-most in a game in school history. Freshman defender Logan Place (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail) had four caused turnovers.
 
The Pack were called for six penalties for a total of eight minutes, including two 2-minutes penalties by Barnard. WU was called for four penalties for a total of four minutes.
 
The Pack were also 19-for-30 on clears, while WU was 23-for-28 on the clears.
 
McMahon led the way offensively for Westminster with seven goals and added an assist, while Jenson added six goals and two assists and Skyler Weathers tallied three goals and three assists. Joseph Celentano paced the Griffins with four assists. For the game, 13 different Griffins scored goals and nine different Griffins had assists.
 
Russell (0-3) played all 60 minutes in goal as he had 13 saves, along with those seven ground balls and a caused turnover.
 
Three different Griffins played in goal on the day as Christian Jones played nearly 54 minutes and recorded seven saves, while adding four ground balls and three caused turnovers.