DENVER – The Westminster women's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end with a 12-9 loss to Fort Lewis in the quarterfinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday evening at the Regis Lacrosse Pitch.
 
Westminster – the tournament's No. 5 seed – was looking for its first-ever win over fourth-seeded Fort Lewis in their first-ever appearance in the conference tournament. The teams were even at 3-3 at halftime and again at 7-7 with 17:27 left in the game.
 
Fort Lewis (9-6) then scored the next three goals to open a 10-7 advantage with 9:20 to play. After Kira Heiden got one back for the Griffins, Fort Lewis scored two straight for a 12-8 lead with 34 seconds remaining. Audree Erekson tallied the final goal for the Griffins with 16 seconds to play.
 
Westminster finished its second season in the RMAC and playing a NCAA Division II schedule with a 7-6 record. That is five wins more than the team recorded in 2016 to go with its first Division II postseason appearance.
 
It was turnovers that hurt the Griffins on Thursday as they committed 29 to counter their 19-4 advantage in draw controls. Fort Lewis had a 31-24 edge in shot attempts and a 31-21 lead in ground balls. Westminster also failed to take advantage of a season-high 12 free-position attempts with only four goals.
 
Heiden and Madison Ingman finished the game with two goals and one assist apiece. Katie Adams and Kristina Sewell also had two goals each for the Griffins. Adams led the team with seven shot attempts.
 
Erekson claimed eight draw controls while Heiden collected six. Erekson also led the team with four ground balls. Daisy Mele and Hanah Webster recorded two caused turnovers apiece.
 
Taylor Hekking made seven saves and allowed four goals in her 35 minutes in cage. Mikala Anderson had four stops against eight goals allowed.
 
Taylor Cabrera led the Skyhawks with three goals and Alyssa Spencer made 11 saves.