PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's lacrosse put the brakes on a 15-game losing skid here Saturday afternoon by scoring a season-high 14 goals and recording a school record 60 ground balls in earning a 14-12 victory over Adams State in Rocky Mountain Athletic action at ALG Stadium.
 
With the victory, which was the first for the Pack since earning an 11-6 home win over Adams State on April 1, 2023, the ThunderWolves improved to 1-9 overall and 1-4 in the RMAC, while Adams State fell to 1-9 overall and 1-5 in the league. The win helped the Pack avenge a 15-11 loss earlier this season at Adams State.
 
The 14 goals are tied for the 17th most in a game in school history and the most goals scored by the Pack in a game since tallying 15 goals in a 15-7 road win over Adams State on April 30, 2022. In addition, the 60 ground balls bettered the old school record of 57 at Johnson & Wales on April 13, 2018.
 
Nine of the Pack's season-high 14 goals came in the first period as the Pack led 9-3 after the opening 15 minutes of play. In fact, the Pack scored the game's first seven goals.
 
After outscoring the Grizzlies 9-3 in the opening period, ASU would outscore the Pack, 9-5, over the final three periods of the game, including tallying seven goals in the final period after trailing 12-5 entering the final period play.
 
Sophomore midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) led the way offensively for the Pack with five goals, which is tied for ninth-most in a game in school history. In addition to Lessley, sophomore attacker Andrew Dzubak (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Mount Saint Vincent) added four goals and had three assists for seven points, which is tied for seventh-most points in a game by a Pack player. Sophomore midfielder Chris Easley (Southington, Conn./Weber) added two goals and an assist. Seven of the Pack's 14 goals were assisted.
 
The Pack got the scoring started just two minutes into the contest as Lessley found the cage for an unassisted goal and about 37 seconds later, sophomore attacker Kyle Parker (Hamilton, New Zealand/Northland College) scored an assisted goal to give the Pack an early 2-0 lead and Lessley added his second goal of the game just 22 seconds later to put the Pack in front 3-0.
 
Dzubak added his first goal with 11:08 left in the opening period to give the Pack a 4-0 lead and then Lessley scored of the next three goals with the other goal being scored by sophomore midfielder Trey Hahn (Erie, Colo./Erie) over a span of 105 seconds to give the Pack an insurmountable 7-0 advantage. Dzubak and Parker assisted on Hahn and Lessley's final goal of the scoring run.
 
The Grizzlies would finally get on the scoreboard thanks to a goal with 7:49 left in the first period by Dawson Balabanoff to cut the Pack's lead to 7-1. Balabanoff would add a second goal about two-plus minutes later to pull ASU within 7-2.
 
Dzubak scored his second goal of the game off an assist by freshman midfielder Aidan Horn (Prince Alberta, Saskatchewan/Ecole St., Mary's) with 3:55 left to give the Pack an 8-2 lead and the lead grew to 9-2 following a goal with 52 seconds left by Lessley off an assist by Easley. ASU used a goal by Danny Joy with five seconds left in the period to pull the Grizzlies within 9-3 after the first 15 minutes of play.
 
In the opening period, the teams combined for 12 goals, 21 shots and 31 ground balls.
 
Drew Guerrero scored a goal with 9:09 left in the second period to pull ASU within 9-4, but Easley score a goal off an assist by Dzubak with 1:48 left in the period to give the Pack a 10-4 halftime lead.
 
The Pack scored two of the three goals in the third period to lead 12-5 heading into the final period. The Pack's goals in the period came from junior midfielder Brett Woolcock (Humble, Texas/Atascocita) and Easley off an assist by Dzubak.
 
Adams State make things interesting in the fourth period as they outscored the Pack, 7-2, to cut the final margin to just two goals. Both the Pack's goals came from Dzubak. Balabanoff and Guerrero scored four of the Grizzlies seven goals in the period.
 
The Pack finished the game with a 50-33 edge in shots and had a 30-19 edge in shots on goal. Dzubak recorded 15 shots, which is the second-most in a game in school history, while Parker and Lessley took nine shots each. Lessley and Dzubak each had eight shots on goal.
 
CSU Pueblo's school record 60 ground balls came from 20 different players, including senior midfielder CJ Rowe (Indianapolis, Ind./CU-Chicago) leading the way with eight, while Parker added seven and Dzubak and sophomore midfielder Bryce Campbell (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian) each having six in the win.
 
ASU had 51 ground balls with Andrew Leonard picking up eight and Logan Brewer collecting seven.
 
The Pack were 18-for-30 on face-offs with Campbell and sophomore midfielder Aaron Bell (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) each winning nine. ASU was 12-for-30 on face-offs with Leonard winning all 12 of them.
 
The Pack also tied a single-game record with 26 caused turnovers as Parker, sophomore defenders Bergen Anderson (Lincoln, Neb./Southwest), Alex Kragen (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Tanner Barnard (Reno, Nev./Reno) each tallying three. ASU finished with 14 caused turnovers.
 
Freshman Cole Rutz (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) played all 60 minutes in the cage and recorded seven saves and added four ground balls and one caused turnover.
 
Balabanoff paced the Grizzlies with five goals, while Guerrero added three goals. Balabanoff also had two assists for a team-high seven points in the loss. Brewer had six caused turnovers and Balabanoff took nine of his team's 33 shots.
 
Ryan Berger (0-7) played all 60 minutes in goal for ASU and finished with 16 saves and added four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
The Pack will remain home as they will seek to win two straight games as they host Tusculum for a 7 p.m. non-conference game on Tuesday, April 9 at ALG Stadium.