SALT LAKE CITY – The 19th-ranked Westminster men's lacrosse team snapped a seven-game losing streak to ranked opponents with a 16-15 win over No. 6 Colorado on Thursday evening at Dumke Field.
 
Westminster (6-3, 2-0 RMLC) defeated its Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference foe for the first time in three tries all-time. Neither team led by more than two goals the entire game and there were 11 ties and four lead changes in the contest.
 
"We have been telling the guys that we need to weather storms during games," Westminster head coach Mason Goodhand said after the game. "These guys did that today and overcame some things that didn't go our way and that was huge for us."
 
After the two teams played to an 8-8 tie at halftime, Colorado (9-4, 1-1) opened the third quarter with consecutive goals from Riley Kulm and Jace Gan to lead 10-8. The Griffins answered with goals by Kyle Postler and Troy Vance to level the game at 10-10 with 5:10 to play in the quarter.
 
The back-and-forth action continued through the start of the fourth quarter and when Colin MacIlvennie scored for Colorado with 9:38 remaining, the Buffaloes held the 13-12 lead. Vance then evened the game at 13-13 less than two minutes later. Postler then scored on an empty net as the CU goalie tried to force a turnover to put the Griffins in front, 14-13, with 7:53 to play.
 
Gan tied the game at 14-14 with 3:44 on the lock with his fourth goal of the evening. Postler put Westminster in front for good with 2:16 to play when he fired a shot to the top corner of the cage on a nice feed from Eric Crosby to notch his third goal of the game.
 
The Griffins added a huge insurance goal with 25 seconds to play as Thomas Sarjeant lofted a shot into the empty goal to put his team in front 16-14. After Colorado forced a Griffin turnover, Gan tallied his fifth goal of the game with eight seconds to play. The Buffaloes won the ensuing faceoff, but the shot by Cary Garfinkel went wide as time expired.
 
Westminster finished the game with 45 shots (28 on goal) while giving up 47 shots (24 on goal) to CU. The Griffins won 18-of-24 faceoffs and had a 33-29 edge in ground balls. They forced 17 turnovers and committed 16 while going 21-of-24 in clearing attempts.
 
Postler finished the game with six points by scoring three goals and recording three assists. He took six shots in the game with five on goal and had one ground ball. Vance and Sarjeant scored three goals apiece for the Griffins with Crosby and Elias Fairman totaling two goals and one assist apiece. Christian Pompoco scored two goals and Josh Holland had one goal and three assists.
 
"In the maturity of this team our seniors know what to do and Kyle (Postler) showed that today," Goodhand said of his senior.
 
Erik Gronseth earned the win in cage for the Griffins with nine saves. Ryan Coffelt was 10-of-19 in faceoffs with seven ground balls and Jake Berard went 8-of-15. Tanner Duryea caused a team-high three turnovers.
 
Gan added one assist to his five-goal effort to finish with six points for Colorado. MacIlvennie scored two goals as CU had 10 different players score overall. Jensen Makarov recorded 12 saves in defeat.
 
Westminster will be back in action on Sunday when they welcome No. 13 Colorado State to Dumke Field at noon (MT). Tickets for that game are available by visiting WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets.