SALT LAKE CITY—Westminster's men's soccer team was unable to recover from two early first half goals that saw the Griffins fall to Fort Lewis, 2-0, in the RMAC Championship Quarterfinals.
 
Skyhawks took an early two goal lead with a goal in the seventh and 14^th minutes. Brantley Bice finished the rebound of a parried shot by Noah Larkin, for the first goal. Ciaran Feeney scored from the top of the penalty box when a headed clearance fell to his feet.
 
Westminster came close to pulling one back in the 21^st minute. Armin Hasanovic's drove through the midfield on a dribble and let fly from 25 yards out. Goalkeeper Peter Byrne batted the ball down to the top of the six where Brody Nelson outraced the defenders to the ball but was denied by Byrne.
 
Gavin Flitton and Colin Horman came close to finding the back of the net. Horman came close in the 64^th minute with a fierce shot along the right goal line eight yards out. The shot was parried away by Byrne for a corner kick. Flitton had the best chance of the second half with a shot from 30 yards out. Flitton's shot beat Byrne but struck the right post and bounced away from the goal.
 
Larkin and the defense kept hope alive with several stops in the second half. Larkin made a season-high eight saves with seven coming in the second half. He muscled two powerful shots over the crossbar in the 49^th and 60^th minute. Fort Lewis had three chances—75^th, 79^th and 82^nd minute— on the break as Westminster pushed numbers forward but recovering defenders and Larkin blocked or saved to keep from falling further behind.
 
The Griffins outshot the Skyhawks 25 to 17 with seven players with two or more shots. Armin Hasanovic led with five and Kaden Amano had four.