SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's lacrosse team put together a strong second half effort as they pulled away for an 11-6 win over Utah on Saturday afternoon at a rainy Dumke Field.
 
Westminster trailed 5-2 with 1:01 to play in the second quarter before scoring twice before halftime, including a Jake Berard tally with two seconds to play in the quarter – to trim the deficit to 5-4 at intermission. Those two goals sparked a 5-0 run that had the Griffins leading 7-5 after three quarters.
 
Utah had the first score of the fourth quarter with 9:34 remaining, but the Griffins closed out the win with four straight goals, including a Ryan Coffelt goal at the 9:19 mark to put the lead back at two.
 
Nick Stasch led the Griffins with three goals and one assist. Troy Vance added two goals in the win. Vance led the team with six shots while Nick Marcy took five.
 
The Griffins had a 43-32 edge in total shots and they put 23 of their chances on cage. Utah won 12 of 21 faceoffs and had a 25-24 lead in ground balls, but the Utes committed 18 turnovers to just 15 from the Griffins.
 
Grant Phillips finished the game with four caused turnovers for the Griffins. Dalton Tuor had four ground balls and won eight faceoffs in 20 attempts.
 
Conner McFarlane secured the win in cage with 11 saves.
 
Utah got its six goals from six different players. Alex Kirschner led the Utes with two points.
 
Westminster will now return to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action with a pair of road games next weekend. They play at Colorado State – Pueblo on Friday at 7 p.m.