GRIZZLIES AND THUNDERWOLVES AT HOME

Westminster's men's lacrosse team is 6-6 overall and 2-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).  They have two important games this weekend against Adams State (4-7, 0-5 RMAC) and CSU-Pueblo (5-6, 1-4 RMAC) at home.  The Griffins recorded both of its conference wins against the Grizzlies and the Thunderwolves.
 
Westminster will qualify for the RMAC Championship with a win over either team this weekend.  Winning both games would guarantee a third-place finish and a match up with Rockhurst.
 
Westminster is 5-1 against both teams and are undefeated at home against them. In the six games against both teams, Westminster has scored 85 goals against Adams State and only allowed 50.  119 goals have been scored against CSU-Pueblo and only 59 allowed.
 
Per game the Griffins are first in penalty-killing percentage (.354) and assists per game (8.46).   Second in man-down goals (.23).  Third in goals (13.69), points (22.15), shots on goal per game (23.38), penalties (4.00), and penalty minutes (3:57).  Fourth in shots (37.62) and man-up scoring percentage (.258).  Fifth in man-up goals (.62) and shot percentage (.364).
 
SHARING THE OFFENSIVE LOAD
The Griffins lead the conference in assists per game.  The team has totaled 93 assists out of 154 goals.  16 Griffins have recorded an assist and three have tallied double-digit assist totals.  Thomas Sarjeant leads the team with 16 assists, Lane Kadish has 15 and Nick Marcy has 13 assists.
 
Kadish, Marcy and Sarjeant also lead the team on points.  Kadish has tallied 43 points with 31 goals, averaging 2.58 per game.  Marcy has scored 24 goals and has 37 points.  Sarjeant has 20 goals and 36 points.
 
FACE-OFF BATTLE
Chance Beutler has won 49-100 faceoffs and leads the team with 32 ground balls.  Chase Flinders has 31 ground balls and won 11-26 face-offs.  Eli Gaunt has won 19-44 faceoffs and picked up 31 ground balls.  Ian Nadel has won 22-51 faceoffs and picked up 11 ground balls.
 
RESISTING THE OPPOSITION
Kyle Williams leads the team with 16 caused turnovers and 21 ground balls.  Troy Vance has tallied 15 caused turnovers and 24 ground balls.  Grant Phillips has caused 13 turnovers and 21 ground balls. 
 
Connor McFarlane has logged 434:11 minutes in front of the cage and recorded a .500 save percentage.  He has faced 291 shots and made 82 saves and allowed 82.  Phillip Cannel has played 196:36 minutes and faced 113 shots.  He has made 37 saves and allowed 36 goals for a .507 save percentage.

STATISTICAL COMPARISON
 

	Westminster		Adams State		CSU-Pueblo
Goals	154	131	99	117	148	55
Assists	93	68	41	55	85	33
Shots	464	470	426	453	372	152
Shot %	0.348	0.279	.232	.258	.398	.362
SOG	285	295	246	285	246	103
SOG %	0.611	0.587	.577	.629	.661	.678
Shots / Game	36.8	39.2	38.7	41.2	33.8	30.4
Goals per Game	12.83	10.92	9.00	10.64	13.45	11
ManUp	8	17	11	9	14	8
ManDown	3	1	1	2	7	3
Ground Balls	333	407	346	323	385	141
Turnovers	202	244	228	213	274	126
Caused Turnovers	122	91	104	96	111	34
Faceoffs W-L	123-208	208-123	112-135	135-112	168-330	64-154
Faceoffs %	0.372	0.628	.453	.547	.509	.416
Clears	186-214	176-223	222-284	203-252	187-241	88-114
Clear %	0.869	0.789	.782	.806	.776	.772

 
SCOUTING THE GRIZZLIES
Kale Wilson leads the Grizzlies with 22 points, 19 goals and three assists.  Jacob Austin has tallied 14 points from nine goals and five assists and Alex Brydson has 13 points with 11 goals and two assists.  Ale Hoduffer, Collin Cranfield and Emmitt MacFarlane each have 12 points.
 
Garrett Chitwood has caused 15 turnovers and picked up 11 ground balls.  Sawyer Robison has caused 11 turnovers and picked up 16 ground balls.
 
Joe Quatrochi is 79-179 on face-offs and leads his team with 39 ground balls.  Dakota Hauck has won 20-38 faceoffs and recorded .526 face-off percentage.  Danny Krieble is 12-26 on face-offs and picked up 24 ground balls.
 
Goalkeeper Connor Johnson has recorded a .585 save percentage.  He has made 138 saves and allowed 98 after facing 369 shots.  He has recorded an 11.76 goal against average.
 
SCOUTING THE THUNDERWOLVES
Blake Foerster has scored 33 goals and assisted 23 to lead the Thunderwolves with 56 points.  Taylor Davis has 49 points from 34 goals and 15 assists.  Anthony Ferrie has 45 points with 27 goals and 18 assists.
 
Caleb Johnson is 82-136 on faceoffs and leads the team with 57 ground balls.  Michael DeMaio is 72-159 on face-offs and has picked up 41 ground balls. 
 
Devin Thrower has caused 15 turnovers and picked up 30 ground balls.  Preston DeHerrera leads the team with 18 caused turnovers and picked up 23 ground balls.  Adam Lange has caused 13 turnovers and DeMaio has caused 10 turnovers.
 
Goalkeeper Nick Richards has made 123 saves and allowed 127 goals for a .492 save percentage.  He averages 16.51 goals against. 
 
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' final home and regular season game will be Saturday, April 21, against conference leaders Colorado Mesa.  Live video of the game will be broadcast on the RMAC Network and the Westminster YouTube Channel.  Live stats will also be available.  Links to the broadcast and live stats can be found on the Westminster men's lacrosse schedule webpage.