Griffin's Take on #17 Rockhurst

The Westminster men's lacrosse team improved to 2-2 in the RMAC with a sweep over Adams State and CSU-Pueblo.  They look to continue their success on the road in Kansas City, MO, against #17 Rockhurst (12-1, 5-1 RMAC) on Thursday and Lindenwood on Saturday (5-5).
 
Westminster and Rockhurst met earlier in the season at Dumke Field.  Trailing 7-2, with five minutes left in the second quarter, Westminster went on a 10 to 2 run for a three-point lead, 12-9, with 9:50 remaining in the game.  Rockhurst responded with six unanswered goals for the win, 16-12.
 
Westminster and Rockhurst have met seven times since joining the RMAC in 2016.  Westminster has scored 88 goals, averaging 12.6 a game, and allowed 77 goals, 11 per game.  The Griffins are 6-1 against the Hawks with only one win coming in overtime.
 
The team is 0-2 against Nationally ranked opponents this season.  They are 2-7 against D2 nationally ranked opponents.
 
Westminster has taken 445 shots and scored 164 goals with 102 assists.  They are third in the RMAC averaging 15.44 goals per game.  They lead the conference with 10.33 assists per game and 25.78 points per game.  They have allowed 380 shots and 104 goals, averaging 11.56 goals against per game.
 
Lane Kadish leads the Griffin's offense with 39 points.  He has scored 26 points, averaging 2.6 per game, and assisted on 13 goals.  Nick Marcy has scored 23 goals and assisted 13 for 36 points and Thomas Sarjeant has 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points.
 
Chance Beuler has won 40-86 faceoffs and leads the team with 30 ground balls.  Chase Flinders has 24 ground balls and won 10-24 face-offs.  Eli Gaunt was won 19-42 faceoffs and gathered 19 ground balls.
 
Troy Vance leads the team with 11 caused turnovers and has gathered 17 ground balls.  Grant Phillips has caused 10 turnovers and picked up 18 ground balls.  Kyle Williams has caused 10 turnovers and gathered 13 ground balls.
 
Connor McFarlane has been in the cage for 347 minutes and recorded a .520 save percentage.  He has faced 215 shots and made 65 saves.  Phillip Cannel has played 193 minutes and faced 109 shots.  He has made 37 saves and recorded a .514 save percentage.
 
Scouting Rockhurst
Rockhurst's single loss came at #3 Colorado Mesa.  They are 3-1 against nationally ranked opponents having defeated #3 Missouri (Feb. 2), #10 Mercyhurst (Mar. 30) and #19 Lindenwood (Apr. 6), and losing to #3 Colorado Mesa (Mar. 6).

The Hawks are the third ranked scoring offense and the seventh ranked scoring defense in the country.  They have taken 662 shots and scored 216 goals, averaging 16.62 goals per game.  They have only allowed 335 shots and 95 goals, allowing 7.31 per game. 

Sam Lindahl leads the Hawks with 49 points, having scored 31 goals and assisted 18.  He is fourth in the conference for goals per game, fifth for points per game and sixth in assists per game.

Collin Fisher has scored 30 times and assisted four.  Drake O'Neill has 22 goals and nine assists, and Kai Trujillo have scored 21 goals and tallied 10 assists.

Zach Bodeau and Sal Valdivia are first and third in the RMAC for Ground Balls per game.  Bodeau averages 8.23 per game and Valdivia averages 6.70 per game.  Bodeau has won 167 out of 209 faceoffs, leading the conference with a .799 win percentage.

Connor Bateman is third in the conference averaging 1.64 caused turnovers per game.  Connor Hill seventh with 1.08 per game.

Goalkeeper Alex Pfiel averages 7.38 saves per game and recorded a .525 save percentage.  He averages 7.80 goals against per game.

About the Griffins

Westminster received one first-place vote, 12 total votes, and was picked to finish second in the Preseason Coaches' Poll, ahead of Rockhurst and just behind Colorado Mesa.  The Griffins were the only team, besides Colorado Mesa, to earn any first-place votes.  They finished the 2017 season 6-4 in RMAC play and 8-7 overall.
 
Westminster returns 26 players from last season's squad that finished third in the RMAC regular season and made it to the RMAC Championship final.  They finished 8-7 overall and 6-4 in conference play. 
 
The group of returners includes six seniors, 11 juniors, and nine sophomores.  The team attempted 39.50 shots per game, averaging 12.86 goals per game and 19.79 points per game.  They converted 27.5 percent of man-up chances, scoring 11 goals.
 
Thomas Sarjeant returns for his senior season after leading the Griffins with 31 goals, shooting 36.9 percent, and 50 points.  He added 29 assists and has scored a goal in the last 13 games.  Sarjeant ranked fourth in the conference for goals and points per game, and fifth in assists.
 
Nick Marcy was second on the team in points with 40.  He scored 18 goals and lead the team with 22 assists.  He ranked third in the conference in assists and eight in points per game.
Troy Vance was the Griffin's second leading scorer with 29 goals, shooting 38.7 percent.  He also recorded four assists and totaled 33 points. 
 
Grant Phillips and Braden Pelly both return to the Griffin defense.  They each recorded 15 caused turnovers last season.  They were tied and ranked seventh in the conference, averaging 1.00 caused turnovers per game.
 
Westminster won 44.8 percent of face-offs and had an 85.6 clearing percentage.  They picked up 27.1 ground balls and caused 7.67 turnovers per game.
 
Conner McFarlane returns in front of the goal.  He started in all of the games last season, logging 759:44 minutes.  McFarlane faced 503 shots and average 10.9 saves per game.

Phillips and Sarjeant were named to the Preseason All-RMAC Team.
 
Looking Ahead

The Griffins finish this weekend on the road against Lindenwood on Saturday (Apr. 14).  They finish the season with three games at home against CSU-Pueblo (Apr. 20), Adams State (Apr. 22) and Colorado Mesa (Apr. 28). 
 
Links to live video and live stats can be found on the Westminster men's lacrosse schedule webpage.