GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Westminster men's lacrosse team came up short in an 8-6 loss at Colorado Mesa in the championship game of the inaugural Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Walker Field.
 

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Westminster (9-3) completed its first season in the RMAC and at the NCAA Division II level with a share on the conference regular season title and an appearance in today's final game.
 
"The lacrosse today was good," Westminster head coach Mason Goodhand said after the game. "The game was physical and the team that wanted it more got rewarded."
 
Colorado Mesa (13-4) held the Griffins scoreless in the first quarter – the only time that has happened this season – as they took a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes. The Mavericks would score a pair of man-up goals in the second quarter to open a 6-1 lead with 2:35 to play before halftime.
 
Elias Fairman would begin to generate some offense for the Griffins as he scored with 1:15 before intermission to trim the deficit to four. Fairman would then assist on a goal from Thomas Sarjeant that got the Griffins within 6-3 in the third quarter.
 
Fairman scored his second goal of the game with late in the third quarter and then after Blake Bruner got on the board, Sarjeant struck again on another feed from Fairman. That had CMU lead to 7-6 with 11:27 remaining.
 
CMU got a goal from Steven Brandenburg – the fourth of the day for the tournament MVP – with 6:17 in the clock to push the Griffins deficit back to two. Bridger Fisher would get the Griffins only shot on goal the rest of the game as CMU melted the clock to win the title.
 
"We battled back in the second half after Colorado Mesa came out and played a very physical first half," Westminster junior Jake Berard commented.
 
Fairman finished the game with four points and scored his two goals on 10 shots. The senior also caused two turnovers and had one ground ball in his final collegiate game.
 
Westminster took 36 shots in the game, including 23 in the second half, and they put 17 of those on cage. CMU attempted 32 shots and they won 10 of 18 faceoffs. The Mavericks had a 25-15 advantage in ground balls to and scored on 3 of 4 extra-man opportunities.
 
Sarjeant scored his two goals on five shots. Troy Vance had the other Griffins goal and Pace Cranney got an assist in the loss. Chase Flinders led the team with three ground balls. Philip Cannell suffered the loss in cage with nine saves.
 
While the offense of Brandenburg led the way for CMU, they got 11 saves from Remi Reeves to claim the title.
 
Westminster saw Bruner, Fairman, Holland, and Sarjeant each be named to the All-Tournament Team.