GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The visiting Westminster University Griffins stunned the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks with two goals in the final 30 seconds and took over the lead in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's lacrosse standings with a 15-13 win on Thursday night here at the Community Hospital Unity Field.
The Griffins, led by three goals and six points from Ridge Crouch, improved to 8-4 overall and to 7-1 in the RMAC standings while the nation's 15
th-ranked Mavs fell to 9-4 overall while suffering their first conference loss of the season.
The defeat also snapped the Mavs' five-game winning streak and was just their second home loss in the last four seasons, both of which have come at the hands of the Griffins.
The Mavs had rallied from 12-9 down to tie the game at 12 with 8:37 left in the fourth quarter.
Crouch then put the Griffins up 13-12 a minute later before CMU's
Dillon Pless scored the second of his two goals to the game at 1:27 left.
However, the Griffins' Luke Sillstrop scooped the ground ball on the ensuing faceoff from the restraining line before Cam Conti scored the go-ahead goal on a Theo Le assist with 26.3 seconds remaining.
The Griffins then won the next faceoff as well as Le scored another goal with 15 seconds remaining to put the Griffins in front by two goals. That goal could very well prove to be pivotal as it gives the Griffins the advantage in any potential tie-break situations for the RMAC Tournament seeding and hosting rights.
The Mavs had defeated the Griffins by one goal in overtime (13-12) a fortnight ago in Salt Lake City and will need the Griffins to lose to either Adams State on Friday or at home against Northwest Nazarene week to avoid having to return to Salt Lake in both of the next two weekends.
CMU is already scheduled to play neutral site RMAC games there next Thursday and Saturday and are now looking at the distinct possibility of having to go the Griffins' Dumke Field for the RMAC Tournament as well on Apr. 24 and 26.
Thursday's game was a battle from the start as the Mavs were able to open up 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 leads as
Carson Points scored the first two goals of his hat trick.
However, the Griffins then scored three times in a span of 32 seconds to take a 5-4 lead and later extended it to 6-4 on a Conti unassisted goal at the mid-way point of the second quarter.
The Mavs then rallied to take a 7-6 halftime lead as Pless scored a man-up goal before
Connor Jensen and
Julius Petersen registered goals a minute apart in the final two minutes of the half.
The Mavs also held a slight 9-8 lead in the third quarter before four straight Griffin goals, including a go-ahead man-up tally by Sillstrop gave the visitors a 12-9 advantage.
CMU freshman
Ari Villano, who recorded his fifth hat trick of the season then started a 3-0 run as
Jack Cooper and Jensen netted goals with 10:30 and 8:37 remaining to tie game at 12.
The Mavs finished the game with a 56-48 advantage in total shots although Griffin goalkeeper Christian Jones made 14 saves.
The Griffins also won 20 of the game's 32 faceoffs, including six of seven in the fourth quarter.
Points and Jesen both had five offensive points for the Mavs as Points scored three times while adding two assists. Jensen had three assists and two goals.
The Mavs caused a dozen of the Griffins' 24 turnovers while the Mavs were guilty of 16.
Boaz Brown made the start net in net and made five of his six total saves in net during an action-packed first quarter. He was replaced early in the second half when the score was 8-8 as
Shaden Shields went the rest of the way, recording three saves.
The Mavs will attempt to bounce back in what could be their final home game of the season on Saturday night at 7 o'clock against RMAC Newcomer Northwest Nazarene, which claimed a 19-9 road win over Adams State on Thursday afternoon to move ahead of the Grizzlies in to fourth place in the RMAC standings.
The top four teams in the final standings will qualify for the RMAC Tournament.
The Nighthawks are now 4-7 overall and 3-5 in the RMAC.
