DURANGO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse team opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play here Saturday afternoon with a 12-8 road victory over Fort Lewis College at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.

With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 3-3 overall and open league play with a win for the second consecutive season and just the third time in program history, while Fort Lewis falls to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Saturday's victory helped the program win its third game of the season, which is the most wins in a season since going 3-13 during the 2022 season. The Pack had won two games each of the past three seasons.

The Pack used a dominant opening period to seize control, scoring five unanswered goals after Fort Lewis struck first to build a 5-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of action. Freshman attacker Hillary Grehan (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Murdoch MacKay Collegiate) started the game with a man-up goal with 11:44 left in the period. The Pack followed with goals from sophomore attacker Emily Doane (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro), sophomore midfielder Sydney Gunnels (Dallas, Texas/Coppell), freshman midfielder Ainsley Jackson (Anaheim, Calif./Canyon), and redshirt freshman midfielder Sienna Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley) to take command of the contest.

Junior midfielder Sophia Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley) scored her first goal of the game with 10:58 left in the second period, giving the Pack a 6-1 lead, before FLC used an unassisted goal by Rilee Powless to cut the Pack's lead to 6-2 at the half.

Fort Lewis made its push in the third period, outscoring CSU Pueblo 4-3 and trimming the deficit to 9-6 heading into the fourth period. CSU Pueblo answered in the final 15 minutes with three straight goals from Sienna Rinn, Doane and Gunnels to stretch the lead to 12-6 and put the game away. Diamond Velasco capped the scoring with back-to-back goals in the final period to cut the Pack's final margin to four goals.

Sophia Rinn led the ThunderWolves offensively with four points on three goals and one assist, while Doane and Sienna Rinn each added three points. Gunnels also recorded three points on two goals and an assist, and Grehan finished with two goals. Jackson added a goal, while freshman attacker Chloe Mora (Newport Beach, Calif./Orange Christian) and junior attacker Clara Drinkwater (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown) each recorded an assist in the win.

Junior Breonna Mason (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) went the distance in goal and made seven saves, and also added five ground balls and a caused turnover to earn the win for CSU Pueblo. The ThunderWolves finished with 29 ground balls, including five each from Mason and freshman defender Maelynn Saucedo (Eastvale, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt) each had five and converted on several man-up opportunities, scoring five times in man-up situations against the Skyhawks.

FLC won the ground ball battle, 31-29, but the Pack held a 12-10 edge in draws as Jackson picked up three, while Doane, Sienna Rinn, and junior midfielder Reese Wasmund (Portland, Ore./West Linn) each had two.

Velasco paced Fort Lewis with four goals, while Olivia Tilbury made nine saves in goal for the Skyhawks.

Both teams finished with 23 shots, but CSU Pueblo placed 21 on goal, including a combined nine shots on goal from Doane and Sienna Rinn.