SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's lacrosse team closed out the regular season with a 20-13 loss to Colorado Mesa on Saturday afternoon at Dumke Field.
 
With the loss, Westminster falls to 7-5 overall and 5-4 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The Griffins will enter next week's RMAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed.
 
Colorado Mesa (12-3, 7-2 RMAC) seemed to be in control of the game early as they raced out to a 5-2 advantage less than 10 minutes into the game. The Griffins then scored four straight to take a 6-5 lead. When Allison Lambert scored at the 13:07 mark of the first half, the game was level at 7-7.
 
Mesa then closed the half with three straight to lead 10-7 at intermission. The Mavericks had the first two goals of the second half and eventually held a lead of 17-10. Goals from Lambert and Madison Ingman pulled the Griffins back within 17-12 with 13:50 to play, but the visitors answered with three straight to seal the victory.
 
Westminster finished the contest with 29 shots and put 24 of them on goal. Mesa attempted 32 shots and had a 21-14 edge in draw controls. The teams combined for 56 turnovers – 30 from Mesa and 26 by the Griffins – with Mesa winning the ground balls, 19-17.
 
Audree Erekson led the Griffins with five goals and seven points. The freshman entered the day with only 10 points on the season. She scored on all five of her shots and her only free-position chance.
 
Lambert added three goals in defeat. Kira Heiden had two goals and one assist in her final collegiate home game. Fellow senior, Maorgan Bakarich, had one goal.
 
The Griffins had 19 caused turnovers as a team with Daisy Mele and Hanah Webster getting four each. Senior Savanna Brown had one caused turnover. Bakarich led the team with four draw controls and Annelise Preite led the way with four ground balls.
 
Taylor Hekking suffered the loss in goal making five saves against 10 goals allowed in the first half. Mikala Anderson made four stops while also allowing 10 goals in the second half.
 
Colorado Mesa was led by five goals and two assists from Lydia Furrow.
 
The Griffins will face No. 4-seed Fort Lewis in the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament on Thursday at 3 p.m. The winner of that game will play top-seeded Lindenwood on Friday at 3 p.m. The event will be played at Regis University in Denver.