The No. 8 Westminster Griffins beat conference rival No. 15 Fort Lewis by the score of 7-6 on Saturday at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City in what will surely be considered another dramatic chapter in these two teams history.

The last time these two teams met was on May 3, 2008 in the final game of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference Division II Championship. In a seesaw game, Westminster held on to win by one goal 12-11 and won the RMLC Championship.

Fort Lewis (1-4, 0-1) set the tone early after freshman attackmen Kevin Harkey backhanded a shot passed Westminster goalie Dallas McLellan into the back of the net after catching a pass off balance, giving the Skyhawks the early lead.

Westminster (9-3, 3-0) answered with a goal just 36 second later. On the ensuing face off, Westminster got the ball and drove to the net, shooting a low ball past the Skyhawks goalie to take their first lead of the game. Neither team would score in the remainder of the first quarter after both defenses held tight.

Fort Lewis tied the game at the 11:01 mark in the second quarter on a goal by junior midfielder Andy Grenhart. Both teams had long possessions midway through the second quarter. With 3:58 remaining in the second quarter, Westminster senior midfielder Danny Larkin caught a pass from twin brother and senior attackmen Ricky Larkin, and found the back of the net. The brothers celebrated by using their sticks to simulate guitars and pretended to play.

With 47 seconds left in the first half, Grenhart scored again to tie the game at 3-3 at halftime.

The second half started with both teams having long possessions. Fort Lewis was able to capitalize five minutes in as Grenhart scored again to give Fort Lewis the lead. However, on the ensuing face off, Westinster got the ball, drove to the net and dumped to Ricky Larkin creeping around the crease who scored to tie the game. Ricky Larkin would score again five minutes later to give the Griffins a one goal lead at the end of the third quarter.

Fort Lewis tied the game 21 seconds into the fourth quarter on a man-up play after Westminster attackmen Josh Condas was penalized for slashing. Westminster wouldn’t let the Skyhawks gain momentum though as sophomore midfielder Lance Nielsen won the ensuing face off, drove to the net and dumped to freshman attackmen Andy Lehr who scored to regain the one goal lead for the Griffins.

Fort Lewis would equalize less than a minute later on another goal by Grenhart. Both teams had long possessions and as time worn on, the players and fans were getting anxious. Westminster finally scored with 1:17 left in the game. Freshman midfielder Kevin Gee wrapped around the crease on the right side and shot it past the Skyhawks goalie, scoring the game winning goal.

“It is not insignificant that a freshman scored the game winning goal,” said Westminster head coach Mason Goodhand. “We really don’t have any freshman on the team anymore, they are playing like upperclassmen. We scheduled our team to play fatigue because if we want to get to the national championship, we have to play fatigued and I think we won while fatigued today.”