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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's lacrosse team will begin the 2014 season this weekend with four games at the Santa Barbara Shootout sponsored by Brine. Westminster opens with a pair of games on Friday, starting with Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. MST before facing Western Washington at 7 p.m. MST. The Griffins will then play Texas A&M on Saturday at 10 a.m. MST before closing the trip against Santa Clara (Calif.) on Sunday at 3 p.m. MST.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
There will be no live coverage of the games this weekend. Results will be posted at www.WestminsterGriffins.com and on Twitter @wc_griffins once they become available. Fans can sign up to receive scores of all Griffin contests via text message by clicking here.

GRIFFIN NOTES
Westminster begins 2014 after going 11-5 last season during the teams first as a member of Division I of the WCLA. The Griffins welcome back nine players from that squad while adding eight newcomers. Among the returners are Dana Barraco and Maggie HerrNeckar who combined to score 106 goals and total 178 points in 2013. Westminster also brings back starting goalie, Makenzie Hekking, who has played every minute in cage the past two seasons for the Griffins.

OFFENSE NOTEBOOK
>Westminster's nine returning players combined to score 122 goals last season which accounts for 50.2 percent of the team's total output.
>Those returning players also totaled 56 assists for 48.3 percent of the team's total while scoring 178 points, 49.6 percent of the 2013 Griffins' total points.
>Maggie HerrNeckar is the top returning goal scorer from 2013 when she finished the season with 56 goals. That placed second on the team.
>HerrNeckar recorded 10 games with at least three goals last season and was the team's top goal scorer on six occasions.
>She scored at least one goal in 14 of the 16 games that she played with multiple goals in 10 of those contests.
>HerrNeckar twice went for seven goals in a game to establish a career high.
>She would also tally 11 assists in 2013 to help her place third on the squad with 67 points.
>Dana Barraco finished 2013 third in the team with 50 goals and she is one of just seven Griffins all-time to reach 50 goals in a single season.
>Barraco had at least three goals in a game 12 times last season and she led the team in goals twice.
>She was only held without a goal during two of the 16 games that she appeared while scoring multiple goals in 13 of those contests.
>Barraco scored a career-best six goals in a win over Towson (Md.) last April.
>Barraco led last season's team with 37 assists which is the second-highest total for a single season in school history.
>She established a school record in 2013 by averaging 2.31 assists per game.
>Barraco was held without an assist during only one game in 2013 and she tallied multiple helpers during 10 contests.
>She set a school record with seven assists during a win over Alabama in April.

GOALIE NOTEBOOK
>Makenzie Hekking returns for her junior season after playing every minute in cage for the Griffins over the past two seasons.
>Last season, Hekking recorded a 44.2 save percentage and made 136 saves.
>She would make at least six saves in every game last season and had 10 stops or more on four occasions.
>Hekking enters 2014 as the Westminster all-time leader in saves with 295 and saves per game at 7.38.
>She holds a 9.93 goals-against-average for her career and her 29 career victories are also a school record.

ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
>This marks the fifth time in school history that the Griffins will compete at the Santa Barbara Shootout and the fourth consecutive year they have opened the season at the event.
>During those pervious four trips, Westminster has compiled a 10-4 overall record and twice gone 3-0 at the event.
>Westminster and Pitt will meet for the first time on Friday.
>The Griffins have played Western Washington one other time, taking a 16-6 win in last season's opener at the Santa Barbara Shootout.
>Saturday's game will mark the second time Westminster has played Texas A&M. The last meeting was a 14-10 win by the Griffins in 2011.
>Sunday is the first-ever meetings between Westminster and Santa Clara.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Griffins will return to action in March 8 when they welcome Utah State to Dumke Field. The home opener will begin at 11 a.m. MST.