SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's lacrosse team secured a berth in next month's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament by claiming a 24-13 win over Colorado State University – Pueblo on Sunday afternoon at Dumke Field.
 
Westminster (7-5, 6-3 RMAC) will advance to the tournament for the second time in as many years and could potentially enter as the No. 2 seed with a win at Colorado Mesa next Saturday.
 
Playing at home for the final time of his career, senior Jake Berard sparked the Griffins 9-2 first quarter with four goals during the run. Westminster extended the advantage to 13-2 less than five minutes into the second quarter before CSU-Pueblo (5-6, 3-6 RMAC) responded.
 
The ThunderWolves used a 9-3 run into the third quarter to trim the Griffins advantage to 16-11. That was as close as the visitors would get as Westminster scored the game's next six goals to put it out of reach.
 
Westminster's 24 goals are the most the team has scored in a game since joining the RMAC last season and are tied for sixth most all-time.
 
The Griffins fired 65 shots – third most in school history – with 42 of those on goal. They won 25 of 39 faceoffs with a 49-20 advantage in ground balls.
 
Berard's five goals led the team. He also added one assist to match the six points – one goal and five assists – scored by Thomas Sarjeant. Brian Dejesus finished with three goals and one assist. Nick Stasch, Ryan Coffelt, Blake Bruner, and Dan Spencer had two goals apiece.
 
At the defensive end, the Griffins forced CSUP into 21 turnovers with 11 caused turnovers. They held the ThunderWolves to only 32 shots and 22 of 29 clears. The Griffins went 23 of 25 in clearing chances and committed 16 turnovers.
 
Dalton Tuor anchored the solid faceoff win by winning 15 of 20 battles at X. He and Kolton Atkinson claimed six ground balls to lead the team. Grant Phillips and Harrison Nye each tallied two caused turnovers.
 
Three Griffins saw time in cage with Conner McFarlane earning the win with four saves while playing the first half. Kyler Banks played 26 minutes with two saves and Ian Sime posted four saves.
 
Pueblo scored on both of its extra-man opportunities and kept Westminster from scoring on either of theirs.
 
Blake Foerster totaled six points for Pueblo with three goals and three assists. Nick Matzek also scored three goals and Nick Richards made 18 saves.
 
Westminster will close the regular season on Saturday when they play at Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction, Colo. Opening faceoff against the regular season RMAC champions is slated for 1 p.m.