SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 17 Westminster men's lacrosse team surrendered a goal with two seconds left in regulation and then lost in overtime, 12-11, to No. 19 Minnesota Duluth on Monday evening at Dumke Field in the team's home opener.
 
Westminster (3-3) led 11-10 late in the fourth quarter when Jacob Heppner curled from behind the cage and put a shot low to tie the game with just two seconds to play to force the extra period. Minnesota Duluth (5-1) then took the first possession of overtime. After calling a timeout, Joey Saba notched his second goal of the game on a feed from Logan Lindberg for the winner just 53 seconds into the extra session.
 
"The effort was there today, Minnesota Duluth is a tough team that plays well under pressure," Westminster head coach Mason Goodhand said after the game. "We made some mistakes because we were playing aggressively and there was a lot we can take away from this game."
 
The Griffins took a season-high 55 shots in the game and they were able to put 27 of them on cage. They were turned away by UMD goalie, Jared Klapperich, 16 times, including a stop of Elias Fairman with 1:30 left in regulation that would have out Westminster in front by two.
 
Trailing 3-1 at the end of the first quarter, Westminster scored six of the next seven goals in the contest – including five-straight at one point – to open a 7-4 lead with 12:28 to play in the third quarter. Fairman scored three of his team-high four goals during the span and then added his final goal with 6:13 remaining in the third to make it 8-6 for the Griffins.
 
Lindberg then took over for the Bulldogs with three consecutive goals to close the third and send his team to the final stanza leading, 9-8. Thomas Sarjeant started a three-goal spurt for the Griffins with back-to-back goals that were followed with a man-up tally from Josh Holland. That had Westminster in front 11-9 with 7:23 to play. Lindberg then hit his game-high fifth goal of the evening with 6:36 to play to set-up the dramatic finish.
 
Westminster dominated faceoffs in the game, going 21-of-25. Ryan Coffelt won 11 of his 12 attempts while picking up 13 ground balls, the second-most in school history for a single game. Jake Berard went 10-of-13 in his faceoff attempts with five ground balls. The Griffins finished the game with a 34-18 edge in ground balls.
 
Fairman recorded 12 shots in the game with six on goal while Holland and Postler took 10 shots apiece.
 
The Griffins forced UMD into 21 turnovers, but they committed 23 on their end and were just 10-of-16 in clearing attempts. Westminster was 1-for-3 in extra-man opportunities and they held the Bulldogs scoreless in two extra-man chances.