No. 8 Westminster Griffins played back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday and were able to walk away with wins over No. 13 Western Oregon and Central Washington.
Westminster (8-3, 2-0) and Western Oregon faced off on Tuesday in what turned out to be a great game. Both teams played hard but Western Oregon was able to gain a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Westminster rallied back with two goals to end the first quarter 4-2.
Western Oregon (8-3, 1-1) got two quick goals in the second quarter to make it 6-2 but Westminster rallied back to make it 6-6 at halftime.
Westminster took their first lead of the game in the opening minutes of the third quarter and would go up 11-6 before Western Oregon made a run to make it 11-9. The Westminster defense held tough and didn’t give up any goals giving the Griffins a 12-9 win.
On Wednesday, Westminster faced Central Washington (2-3, 2-1). The previous night had brought an inch of snow to the Salt Lake Valley which covered Dumke Field. Prior to the game, both teams were side by side, shoveling the field so that the game could be played.
“Far more important than the game was the fact they called us and said they wanted to play this game today,” said Westminster associate head coach Dave Long. “They were out here helping us shovel the field and that is what lacrosse is about.It wasn’t about whose field it was. They wanted to play and we wanted to play so we shoveled the field and that was cool.”
Westminster carried over their momentum from the previous game and took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Griffins scored two more goals before Central Washington found the back of the net with five minutes remaining in the second quarter. Thirty seconds later, Central Washington found the goal again on a failed clear by Westminster which left freshman midfielder Bryce Mudroch one-on-one with goalie Dallas McLellan. Mudroch shot low and managed to beat McLellan to narrow the margin to 4 goals. Westminster would score one more goal to take a 7-2 lead into halftime.
Westminster would score seven goals in the second half and only allow three as they cruised to a 14-5 victory. Westminster was led by sophomore attackmen Josh Condas and senior attackmen Ricky Larkin who each tallied four goals.
“I think we played hard,” said Central Washington head coach Chris Johnson. “We were missing some players with injuries and some guys were sick. We had a new goalie, Joe Hodge, who really raised the intensity level for the defense. Hodge had never played goalie before so I think he did pretty well.”
Westminster will face conference foe No. 15 Fort Lewis on Saturday at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City. Western Oregon will play at the College of Idaho on April 5. Central Washington will play at Puget Sound on April 4.
Photos courtesy of Shooting Stars Photography
