Griffins Face Rockhurst in RMAC Semifinals on Friday
The Westminster men's lacrosse team makes a second consecutive appearance in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Friday when they face Rockhurst in the semifinals. Westminster – the tournament's No. 3 seed – will begin play against the second-seeded Hawks at 4 p.m.
The RMAC Tournament is being played at Walker Field on the Colorado Mesa University campus in Grand Junction, Colo. The second semifinal game between No. 1 seed Colorado Mesa and No. 4 seed Adams State is Friday at 7 p.m. The championships game will be played on Saturday at 2 p.m.
All three games of the RMAC Tournament will be broadcast live on the RMAC Network with Colorado Mesa producing the content. The RMAC Network is available online, or by downloading the app for your Roku device. Live stats will also be available during all three games.
About the Griffins
Westminster finished the regular season with a 7-6 overall record after winning four of the final five games they played. The Griffins earned the No. 3 seed in the RMAC tournament with a 6-4 mark in conference play. They finished 3-1 at Dumke Field while going 3-5 on the road and 1-0 on a neutral site.
The Griffins enter the postseason averaging 12.69 goals per game to rank third in the RMAC. They are taking 38.77 shots per contest and scoring on 32.7 percent of those attempts. The team has scored in double figures 11 times, including 10 of the past 11 contests. They rank fourth in the conference in scoring on 26.3 percent of man-up chances and they commit 17.38 turnovers per game.
Troy Vance leads the team with 29 goals and
Thomas Sarjeant is second with 26 goals. They are third and sixth in the RMAC respectively in goals per game.
Nick Marcy leads the team with 19 assists and is third in the conference with 1.58 assists per game. Sarjeant has 17 assists and leads the team with 43 points. He is fifth in the conference by averaging 3.31 points per game.
Westminster ranks third in the RMAC with its .453 faceoff percentage and they pick up 28.62 ground balls per game. The Opposition averages 38.77 shots per game while scoring on 29.8 percent. The Griffins are forcing 18.31 turnovers per game with 7.62 caused turnovers per outing. They have killed 65.4 percent of man-down opportunities and have a .858 clearing percentage.
Dalton Tuor has a team-high 88 faceoff wins for a .494 percentage.
Cole Spooner leads the team by winning .596 percent of his 52 faceoff attempts.
Kolton Atkinson leads all Griffins with 34 ground balls.
Braeden Pelly is tops on the team with 14 caused turnovers with
Grant Phillips second with his 13.
As a team, Westminster has an 11.53 goals-against-average and .530 save percentage. The group makes 13.00 saves per game.
Conner McFarlane leads the way with his 11.08 saves per game and .537 save percentage.
Kyler Banks makes 2.50 saves per game with a .465 save percentage.
Battle Tested
Westminster finished the regular season playing the 13th-toughest schedule according to the NCAA statistics formula. Using the formula, Griffin opponents posted a .573 winning percentage this season. That was the second toughest schedule in the RMAC behind the .587 percent faced by Maryville.
Postseason History
This is the Griffins second straight appearance in the RMAC tournament after advancing to the championship game last season. In program history, the team has a record of 26-13 in postseason games and a 14-5 mark in conference tournament games. Playing in the RMLC from 2007-2015, Westminster won five conference tournament titles.
All-Conference Selections
Westminster was well represented on the RMAC All-Conference teams that were announced on Tuesday with seven selections.
Grant Phillips and
Troy Vance were each named First Team All-Conference at defense and attack respectively. Five Griffins,
Chase Flinders (LSM),
Nick Marcy (attack),
Braeden Pelly (defense),
Thomas Sarjeant (attack), and
Nathan Wade (defense) were all named Second Team All-Conference.
Opponent Info: Rockhurst
• Rockhurst enters the postseason at 12-4 overall and winner in five of six.
• The Hawks went 7-3 in RMAC play to earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
• Luke VanOverbeke leads the team with 33 goals and 61 points.
• Westminster is 5-0 all-time against the Hawks, including sweeping two games this season.
Potential Opponent Info: No. 16 Colorado Mesa
• Colorado Mesa is 14-2 overall and on a six-game winning streak.
• The Mavericks went 9-1 in RMAC play to win the regular season title.
• Steve Brandenburg was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Year with 51 goals and 71 points.
• Mesa is 7-1 all-time against the Griffins (4-1 in NCAA games) and they swept the series this season.
Potential Opponent Info: Adams State
• Adams State enters the tournament at 5-7 overall and having dropped four straight games.
• The Grizzlies went 4-6 in RMAC play and earned the final spot in the tournament on a tiebreaker.
• Kale Wilson has a team-high 18 goals and Emmitt MacFarlane leads the team with 24 points.
• Westminster is 4-1 all-time (3-1 in NCAA) against the Grizzlies after splitting two games this season.
