PUEBLO, Colo.– Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse concludes its five-game home stand this weekend with Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games against nationally-ranked Regis and UCCS at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.

The ThunderWolves will play its fourth straight home game on Friday, March 21 against 17th-ranked Regis at 5 p.m. and will conclude the five-game home stand on Sunday, March 23 with a 1 p.m. opening draw against UCCS.

CSU Pueblo, who is led by third-year head coach Taylor Ward, comes into this week's action sporting a 1-4 overall record and a 1-0 mark in the RMAC after opening league play with a 21-8 win over Fort Lewis in its most recent action on March 9. The win snapped a 12-game overall losing skid for the Pack and a 20-game RMAC losing skid that dated to the 2022 season.

The 21 goals scored against Fort Lewis were a season high and the sixth-most goals scored in a game in program history. In the win over FLC, sophomore midfielders Reese Wasmund (Portland, Ore./West Linn) and Sophia Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley) combined for five goals each, while freshman midfielder Sydney Gunnels (Dallas, Texas/Coppell) added four goals in the win. The five goals by Wasmund and Rinn were tied for eighth-most in a single game in school history.

Through five games this season, the Pack has scored 55 goals and is averaging 11.0 goals per game, which is fourth in the RMAC. Leading the way offensively for the Pack is freshman attacker Moira Turpen (Newberg, Ore./Newberg) leads the way with 14 goals and one assist for 15 points, while Gunnels is second with 10 goals and one assist for 11 points. Turpen has scored at least four goals in three of the Pack's first five games and is sixth in the RMAC in goals per game at 2.80.

Freshman attacker Emily Doane (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) leads the team with five assists and has scored nine goals for 14 points, while sophomore attacker Clara Drinkwater (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown) has tallied four assists and has added three goals and Wasmund had had three assists to go along with her seven goals. As a team, the Pack has recorded 17 assists on 55 goals.

Two areas where the Pack has been successful this season is on man-up goals and free position goals as they are tied for second in the RMAC in man-up goals with 12 and lead the league in free position goals with 23 and free position percentage as they have made 57.5 percent (23-for-40) of its free position attempts.

The Pack have had five players take 14 or more shots this season as Turpen leads the way with 27, including 19 shots on goal, while Gunnels has taken 20 shots. Doane and Wasmund are tied for third in shots with 19 and Rinn is fifth with 14 shots. Turpen is seventh in the league in shots per game (5.40).

Wasmund leads the team in draws with 18, while Turpen is second with 16 as the Pack has collected 68 draws on the year and is third in the league in draws per game as they average 13.60.

Sophomore goalie Breonna Mason (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) leads the league in ground balls (26) and has caused six turnovers. In addition to Mason, Turpen, Gunnels and junior defender Audrey Allendorf (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) have each collected 10 ground balls. The Pack is third in the RMAC in ground balls per game as they are averaging 19.60.

Defensively, the Pack is allowing 16.2 goals per game and have caused 39 turnovers with Allendorf, Mason and Wasmund each recording six caused turnovers.

Mason, who was an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection last season and was named to the RMAC Preseason Player to Watch List, has continued her stellar play in the cage this season as she leads the league in saves per game (14.0) and is second in saves (70) and third in save percentage (47.6 percent).  Her 16.10 goals against average is fifth in the league.

ABOUT REGIS
Regis University comes into Friday's game with the Pack sporting a 3-4 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the RMAC after opening league play last weekend with a 16-11 home loss to Colorado Mesa and an 18-6 home win over Westminster. The Rangers, who are ranked 17th in this week's IWLCA Division II Coaches' Poll, has won three of its last four games after opening the season with three straight loss to nationally-ranked foes. 

In the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, the Rangers were tabbed to repeat as the RMAC regular season champions as they earned 25 points and five first place votes. Regis has won six straight regular season and RMAC Tournament titles and have made seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including advancing to the National Semifinals last season for the third time.

As a team, Regis has scored 82 goals and is averaging 11.71 goals per game, which is third in the RMAC. Leading the way offensively for the Rangers is junior midfielder Shea Murphy, who has scored 20 goals and has had three assists for 23 points. Her 2.86 goals per game is fourth in the RMAC. In addition to Murphy, sophomore midfielder Lexie Springman has scored 12 goals and recorded three assists for 15 points. Overall, five Rangers have scored eight or more goals on the year.

Senior midfielder Becky Goetsch is third in the RMAC in assists with 10 as she averages 1.43 per game and has tallied 18 points thanks to also scoring eight goals. As a team, Regis has had 28 assists on 82 goals.
Senior midfielder Megan Bunker leads the RMAC in draw controls with 45, while Murphy is fifth with 28. Bunker averages 6.43 draws per game, while Murphy averages 4.0 draws per game.

Senior midfielder Madeline Schallmoser leads the team in ground balls with 22 and has caused 11 turnovers, while Bunker has had 17 ground balls and leads the team with 15 caused turnovers. Overall, the Rangers have collected 125 ground balls and lead the league in caused turnovers with 77 and are averaging 11.0 caused turnovers per game.

In goal, the Rangers have played two goalies this season as senior Brigit Goetsch leads the league in goals against average (10.52) and leads in total saves with 71 and is second in saves per game (10.14). Her save percentage of 50 percent is tops in the league. Freshman Lauren Poulson has played in one game in the cage and has allowed two goals and made two saves.

The Rangers are coached by Sarah Kellner, who is in her 19th season as Regis' coach. Kellner has compiled a 213-78 record in her time at Regis. She has coached the Rangers to eight conference championships, six NCAA Tournament appearances and three NCAA national semifinal appearances. The Rangers have gone undefeated in league play in four of the last five seasons (the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic) and is 56-2 overall in the RMAC since the beginning of the 2019 season.

Friday's game will mark the 19th all-time between the two schools as Regis leads the all-time series, 18-0, including being 13-0 against the Pack in RMAC play. Regis won both meetings last season as they earned a 19-1 win at Regis on March 27, 2024, and earned a 16-4 win in Pueblo on April 28, 2024.

ABOUT UCCS
UCCS, who play at Fort Lewis on Friday before traveling to Pueblo on Sunday, comes into this weekend's action sporting a 4-2 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the RMAC after splitting its two games last weekend as they won 16-12 at Westminster and fell 18-15 at Colorado Mesa. The loss to Colorado Mesa snapped a three-game winning streak for the Mountain Lions. UCCS' two losses this season have come at Rockhurst and at Colorado Mesa.

As a team, UCCS leads the league in goals with 91 as they are averaging 15.17 per game. Sophomore attacker Sarah Urbanic leads the way with 22 goals and has added nine assists for a league-high tying 31 points. Urbanic is averaging 3.67 goals per game and 5.17 points per game. In addition to Urbanic, sophomore attacker Emma Grace Martin is fourth in goals with 19 and has added eight assists for 27 points, while freshman midfielder Sofia Watts has tallied 17 goals and has added four assists for 21 points.

The Mountain Lions also lead the league in assists with 45 as junior attacker Allie Schell leads the way with 12, which is second in the league. Urbanic is fourth in the league with nine assists and Martin is tied for fifth with eight assists.

UCCS has collected 81 draw controls and are averaging 13.50 per game with junior midfielder Peyton Ross leading the way with 25, while Urbanic has had 11. The Mountain Lions also lead the league in ground balls with 160 as seven UCCS player have had 10 or more on the season. Junior defender Kendra Knutson has had 19, while redshirt sophomore Jordyn Nunez has had 18.

Defensively, UCCS has caused 55 turnovers and have allowed 84 goals in six games. Knutson has been credited with 10 caused turnovers.

In goal, Nunez and redshirt sophomore Ellen Gernert have combined to play nearly 305 minutes in goal as Nunez has recorded 29 saves and has a 12.78 goals against average, while Gernert has recorded 17 saves and has a 16.63 goals against average.

UCCS is coached by Brice Queener, who is in his first season with the Mountain Lions after spending the past five years as the Associate Head Coach at the University of Denver. As a collegiate player, Queener played four years at Georgetown University and helped the Hoyas to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. After his college career, he played six years in Major League Lacrosse with both the Rochester Rattlers and the Hamilton Nationals.

Sunday's game will mark the 12th all-time meeting between the two schools as UCCS holds an 8-3 advantage in the series. The Pack have lost eight straight games in the series, including suffering a heartbreaking 16-15 home loss to the Mountain Lions in the most recent meeting last season on April 26.