GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Adams State Women's Lacrosse began its final week of play Thursday afternoon in a neutral site matchup against Westminster College. The Griffins ultimately defeated the Grizzlies, 23-2.
The Grizzlies (0-12, 0-8 RMAC) fell 8-0 early to the Griffins (4-8, 4-4 RMAC) and never recovered the rest of the afternoon.
Helping Westminster get out early and take an 18-2 lead into halftime was thanks to a 27-2 shots advantage against Adams State, including a 22-2 shots on goals edge. They established their offense with the help of 16 draw control victories, while the Grizzlies had just four.
The Griffins managed to jump out to their 8-0 lead in the first seven minutes of action before the Grizzlies got on the board.
Savannah Penland ended the Grizzlies scoring drought with a goal scored at the 23:30 mark on the clock of the first period.
Looking to keep Adams State from building offensive momentum, Westminster scored two more goals quickly to lead 10-1 with 23:54 to play in the first frame.
The Grizzlies once again battled and looked to force the issue against the Griffins. Penland scored her second goal of the contest with 22:02 to play in the half to bring the score to 10-2.
Defense looked to help the Grizzlies the rest of the first half but the Griffins offense proved to be tough as they scored eight more goals before halftime.
The second half became a slowdown game as the Griffins held the Grizzlies scoreless and scored five goals of their own to secure the 23-2 win.
Westminster was a perfect 11-11 in clear attempts for the game, while Adams State was just 5-15. Te Grizzlies won the draw control battle second half, 4-2.
Penland's two goals led the Grizzlies offense as she finished with three shots overall and two shots on goal. Jacqueline Palacios finished with two shots for the game and had a team-high three groundballs.
Madison Gerchow had five draw controls to lead Adams State.
Emily Motz led the defensive unit with two caused turnovers. Jacqueline and
Jazmine Palacios,
Terra Iverson, and
Sarah Patterson each had one. In net,
Louisa Sanchez tallied four saves and had a pair of groundball pickups.
Two players finished with eight points to lead Westminster. Eden Freiberg scored a game-high five goals and tallied three assists. Madie Ingman scored four goals and had a game-high four assists. Lauren Shoughro also had four goals in the win to go along with one assist to help the offense. Kattie Hendershott tied the game-lead in assists with four and scored three goals for seven points.
Audree Erekson had the most draw control wins with eight. Allie McNeill was second with four. Ingman and Daisy Mele led the defense with three caused turnovers, respectively. Goalie Kinsey Erikson tallied two saves in the win.
The Grizzlies will now return home for Senior Day this Saturday, April 27 against CSU-Pueblo. Game time against the ThunderWolves is set for 1 p.m. at the ASU Lacrosse Field.
