DENVER, Colo. – Behind a high powered offensive attack, the Westminster men's lacrosse team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2011 MCLA National Championships with a 20-15 win over Western Oregon on Tuesday afternoon.

The win is the fifth straight for the 10th-seeded Griffins and improves them to 13-7 on the year. They advance past the opening round at the national tournament for the fifth time in as many trips. They also avenge the season opening loss to Western Oregon. The seventh-seeded Wolves finish the year at 14-2.

The game was played fairly even throughout the first half. After Jake Arthur gave the Griffins an early 1-0 lead, WOU responded with back-to-back goals to take a 2-1 lead midway through the opening quarter. Neither team would build bigger than a two goal advantage through the first 30 minutes. After matching goals for the final 18 minutes of the half, WOU led 8-7 at intermission.

Westminster exploded in the third quarter with nine goals while holding the Wolves to five. Gian Sexsmith scored three goals in the third quarter en route to five goals in the game. Leading 16-13 heading into the fourth quarter, Westminster would score the first two goals of the final stanza. Zach Stout tallied his only goal with 10:16 to play and was followed with a Josh Condas goal at the 6:59 mark to give the Griffins an 18-13 lead.

Sexsmith led the Griffins with those five goals. He also added one assist for six points. Condas and Andrew Gordon finished with four goals and one assist apiece. Arthur added two goals and Jacob Wayman had one goal and one assist.

Westminster will face No. 2 seed St. Thomas (Minn.) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. St. Thomas ended the Griffins run in the quarterfinals of the 2009 tournament and also defeated the Griffins 15-7 this season. Wednesday's game will begin at 4 p.m. and be streamed live on Collegelax.us.