SALT LAKE CITY – Justine Anderson scored five times and freshman
Madi Kruis scored the first three goals of her career as Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse collected a 14-6 win over Westminster at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Friday night.
The Mavericks stormed out to a 9-3 halftime lead and led by as many as 10 in the second half before a late Westminster charge. The win improves CMU's record to 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the RMAC, where they are one of two remaining undefeated programs alongside national No. 9 Regis.
Caroline Ohngemach and
Carson Dickey scored twice to give the Mavs four multiple-goal scorers in Friday's match, while
Courtney Havel and
Amber Wennerstrom added a single goal apiece. Havel also had a game-high four assists.
Defensively,
Larkin Daly and
Kelsey Viger had five ground balls each, with Daly causing two turnovers and Viger causing one.
Shannon Murphy tied a season-high with 10 saves, and with six goals conceded, set a new single-game save percentage mark for the season at .625.
The Mavericks set the tone early with a dominant first quarter that saw them take a 5-1 lead after 15 minutes of play. Sophomores led the way, with Dickey scoring unassisted to lead things off before Anderson scored twice with assists from Havel and Dickey to put the Mavs up 3-0 in the game's first 10 minutes.
After Westminster countered with its first goal, Kruis scored back-to-back goals with three-and-a-half and one-and-a-half minutes to play in the first quarter, the first two in the career for the freshman midfielder from Huntington Beach, California. Anderson would score twice more in the second quarter alongside Ohngemach.
Carson Dickey scored her second goal of the match with just 17 seconds left in the first half to put CMU up 9-3 heading into the break. That goal was the first goal of a 5-0 run for the Mavs in which Kruis, Anderson, Ohngemach and Havel all scored to give the Mavericks a 13-3 lead with 13 minutes to go in the game. Westminster would make things interesting by scoring three consecutive goals in the fourth quarter, but Wennerstrom put the finishing touches on the win with her second goal of the season with just 15 seconds left in the contest.
The Mavs will be back home next weekend, with a showdown against conference frontrunners Regis on April 5 at 3 p.m. before CMU takes on UCCS on Sunday, April 7 at noon.
