ALAMOSA, Colo.--The Westminster men's lacrosse team scored a season high to defeat conference opponent, Adams State, to record its first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win, 20-8.  The Griffins improve to 4-5 overall and 1-2 in the RMAC.

The Griffins earned a win with a dominating performance against the Grizzlies.  Westminster out shot the home side 66 to 39, won 40 ground balls to Adams State's 26 and were 19 of 20 on clearnaces.  The teams were even with 18 turnovers and seven caused turnovers each.11  

Adams State scored the first goal of the game on its first shot after a Westminster turnover.  Thomas Sarjeant scored his 14th goal of the season to even the score and begin a four goal response to secure the lead.  Nick Marcy scored a pair of goals in the final four minutes of the quarter and Sarjeant scored in the final second to put the Griffins up, 7-3.

Marcy and Blake Gross scored a pair of goals to begin the second quarter and Jacob Taylor and Bridger Fisher scored a goal each to finish the quarter.  Westminster finished the half with a five-point lead, 11-6.

The third quarter was all Westminster as the attack put eight goals past the Grizzly goalkeeper and Connor McFarlane, Sean Edwards and the defense shut out Adams State for a 19-6 lead.

The Grizzlies pulled two goals back in the fourth quarter before Kolton Atkinson scored the final score of the game to seal the Griffin win, 20-8.

"We are starting to see our hard work paying off," Head Coach Mason Good Hand said after the game.  "We competed for face offs and ground balls and played solid 1v1 defense."

"We are finding a balance between aggressive play and smart play and it's generating a solid defensive result."

"Freshman duo Chance Beutler and Ian Nadel did an excellent job winning the ball on face offs.  That made more of a difference than any other improvement we've made.  

Marcy, Sarjeant and Lane Kadish each recorded a hat trick and scored half of Westminster's goals.  Marcy led the team with seven points, four goals and three assists, Sarjeant tallied five points, three goals and two assists, and Kadish netted three for three points.

Beutler and Nadel were dominant in the face-off and ground balls.  The pair won 24 of 31 face-offs and picked up 15 ground balls.  Beutler led with eight ground balls and won 13 of 18 face-offs.  Nadel picked up seven ground balls and won 11 of 13 face-offs.

Goalkeepers McFarlane and Edwards faced 39 shots and came up with 17 saves.  McFarlane recorded nine saves and Edwards recorded eight saves.

Westminster's next game is Sunday, Apr. 8, at 12 p.m. against Colorado State University-Pueblo.  The game will be broadcast on the RMAC Network and live stats will be available online.  Links to the broadcast and live stats can be found on the men's lacrosse schedule.