PUEBLO, Colo. — Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse returns home to ALG Stadium to begin a five-game homestand this weekend as the ThunderWolves host Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games against Colorado Mesa and Westminster.
The ThunderWolves open the weekend with a 6 p.m. game on Friday, March 27 against Colorado Mesa, before welcoming Westminster for a 10 a.m. game on Sunday, March 29. The Pack will be playing their fourth and fifth home games this season as they are 1-2 at home overall, but have yet to play an RMAC game at home.
CSU Pueblo, who is led by fourth-year head coach
Taylor Ward, comes into this weekend's action sporting a 4-5 overall record and are 1-2 in the RMAC play following back-to-back road RMAC setbacks last weekend at 17th-ranked Regis (18-14) and at UCCS (17-12). The two-game losing skid came on the heels of a two-game win streak that began with a 12-8 win at Fort Lewis and continued with a 9-8 home win over Missouri Western on March 16.
The 4-5 start to the season is the best nine-game start for Pack women's lacrosse since opening the 2021 season by winning four of its first nine games. The four wins this season as the most in a season for the program since the 2021 team finished with a 4-9 overall record.
The Pack continues to feature on the RMAC's top offensive attacks as they have scored 110 goals, which is tied with UCCS for second-most in the league and are averaging 12.2 goals per game and 27.6 shots per contest while converting at a 44.4 shooting percentage. The Pack is second in the league in shooting percentage and second in goals per game.
CSU Pueblo has had six players tally double-digit goals on the season, led by sophomore attacker
Emily Doane (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro), who has tallied 24 goals and 14 assists for a team-best 38 points. Freshman midfielder
Ainsley Jackson (Anaheim, Calif./Canyon) has added 20 goals, while leading the Pack in draw controls with 28 and sophomore midfielder
Sydney Gunnels (Dallas, Texas/Coppell) has contributed 17 goals and eight assists for 25 points and has added 19 draw controls.
The other Pack players with double-digit goals this season are redshirt freshman midfielder
Sienna Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley), who has scored 12 goals and added eight assists and is second in draws with 26, while junior midfielder
Sophia Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley) has had 11 goals and five assists and freshman attacker
Hillary Grehan (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Murdoch MacKay Collegiate) has tallied 10 goals and three assists.
CSU Pueblo has also shown strength in possession metrics, holding a 121-120 advantage in draw controls and collecting 232 ground balls through nine games. The ThunderWolves have also recorded 99 caused turnovers, highlighting their defensive pressure and transition opportunities. The Pack leads the league in ground balls and draw controls and is second in caused turnovers.
Individually, freshman defender
Maelynn Saucedo (Eastvale, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt) leads the team and is fifth in the league in ground balls with 25 and averages 2.8 per game, while senior defender
Audrey Allendorf (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) is second with 22 ground balls and averages 2.4 per game, while junior defender
Dylan Retzloff (Bend, Ore./Mountain View) and Allendorf and fourth and fifth in the league in caused turnovers with 19 and 18 respectively.
Junior goalie
Breonna Mason (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) has recorded 43 saves and 16 ground balls in five games and has a 39.4 save percentage and a 13.53 goals against average. Freshman
Hannah Duffee (Bayport, Minn./St. Croix Preparatory Academy) has also played five games in the goal and has recorded 28 saves and 10 ground balls and has a 36.8 save percentage and a 11.64 GAA.
ABOUT COLORADO MESA
Colorado Mesa, who shared the regular season RMAC title last season with Regis and was tabbed to finish tied for first with Regis in the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, has struggled this season as the Mavericks enter the weekend sporting a 1-8 overall record and are 0-2 in the league with losses coming at home against UCCS (8-7) and at Westminster (16-13). The Mavericks lone win this season was a 15-14 win at home on Feb. 28 against Florida Tech and since that win, the Mavs have lost four straight games.
Despite their struggles in the win column, Colorado Mesa has been strong on both ends of the field as they are averaging 9.7 goals per game and allowing just 12.7 goals per game. In addition, CMU is shooting 36.7 percent on the season and is averaging 26.3 shots per game.
Senior attacker Carson Dickey and sophomore attacker Kaylee Kittle lead the Mavericks offensively with 18 goals each, while senior attacker Courtney Havel has added 12 goals and a team-leading eight assists. Redshirt junior attacker Cameron Flynn is the fourth Maverick with double-digit goals as she has had 10. The Mavericks have only recorded 33 assists on their 87 goals this season.
CMU has played a lot of close games this season, including one-goal losses to Rockhurst (14-13) and UCCS (8-7) and two-goal losses to Northern Michigan (9-7) and Missouri Western (9-7). In fact, seven of their eight losses have come by six or fewer goals. Their largest loss was a 17-7 setback in the season opener at Saint Leo.
The Mavericks have tallied 97 draws on the season with sophomore midfielder Avery Irlbeck leading the way with 30 draws, while Dickey is second with 20 draws.
Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper Heather Hawkins has logged all 544 minutes in net for CMU and has recorded 75 saves and a 39.7 save percentage and leads the team in ground balls with 28. As a team, the Mavs have collected 153 ground balls and caused 78 turnovers this season.
Colorado Mesa is coached by Ashley Delaney, who is in third season as the Mavericks head coach. In her time directing CMU's program, Delaney has compiled a 23-21 record and has led the Mavs to two straight RMAC Tournament runner-up finishes and a share of the RMAC regular season title in 2025. Prior to becoming the program's head coach, Delaney spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the Mavericks.
Friday's game will mark the 20th all-time meeting between the two schools as CMU has won all previous 19 meetings in the series, including 0-14 in RMAC play. Colorado Mesa won both meetings last season as they earned a 17-2 win in Grand Junction, Colo., and a 20-5 win in Pueblo. The Pack has scored just 112 goals in the series against the Mavericks and are averaging just 5.9 goals per game in the series.
ABOUT WESTMINSTER
Sunday's match-up with Westminster presents another conference challenge as the Griffins enter the weekend with a 5-2 overall record and a perfect 3-0 mark in RMAC play. Westminster has won four consecutive games, including a 16-13 victory over Colorado Mesa in its most recent outing on March 21. In addition to a win over Colorado Mesa, the Griffins other wins in conference play came at home against both UCCS (12-11) and nationally-ranked Regis (12-11). Westminster's two losses came on the road at Rollins (20-8) and Flagler (18-7).
Westminster, who plays Friday at Fort Lewis before traveling to Pueblo, averages 12.14 goals per game and has scored 85 goals in seven contests. In addition, Westminster leads the league in assists per game (6.57) and points per game (18.71) and is second in shots per game (28.86).
Junior attacker Olivia Petrosky leads the Griffins with 16 goals and 21 points, while sophomore attacker Holly Shoughro has added 13 goals and five assists and junior attacker Jordan Williamson has tallied 11 goals and seven assists. Sophomore attacker Ava Deakins has totaled eight goals and a team-leading 11 assists.
The Griffins has recorded 81 draws and picked up 180 ground balls this season as freshman midfielder Jessie Giacimazzi and sophomore midfielder Grace Szwedko have recorded 12 and 10 draws respectively, while junior defender Marianna Dick has picked up 23 ground balls.
Defensively, Westminster leads the league in caused turnovers per game as they are averaging 12.57 per game and have caused 88 in seven games. Dick leads the way with 33 caused turnovers as she is averaging 4.71 per game. In addition, the Griffins have been particularly efficient clearing the ball, converting at an .862 rate.
The Griffins have played three goalies this season with freshman Sienna Garcia being the primary goalie as she has played 184 minutes in net and has tallied 19 saves and a 11.09 GAA, while freshman Kaitlyn Parish has played 165 minutes in net and has tallied 22 saves and a 12.36 GAA.
Westminster is coached by first-year head coach Ashley Tack. Prior to becoming the Griffins' head coach, Tack spent three seasons as an assistant at Westminster. In her first season, Tack has compiled a 5-2 record and is 3-0 in RMAC play.
Sunday's game will mark the 15th all-time game in the series with Westminster holding a 10-4 advantage in the series. The Griffins have won six straight games in the series and eight of the last 10 match-ups overall, including picking up a 20-9 win in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an 18-7 win in Pueblo last season.
