GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Westminster College men’s lacrosse team saw its quest for the second national title in school history fall short as it dropped a 9-7 decision to St. Thomas (Minn.) on Saturday afternoon in the MCLA Division II Championship Game at Sirrine Stadium.
Westminster (17-6) took an early 1-0 lead when Elias Fairman put one in the cage less than two minutes into the opening quarter. St. Thomas (17-0) answered the Griffins opener with five straight goals spanning the first and second quarter to lead 5-1 with 4:55 to play before halftime.
Not to be outdone, Westminster rallied with four straight to draw even at 5-5. Kevin Gee opened the streak at 3:50 of the second and then Fairman got his second of the game less than a minute later. The Griffins got goals from Adam Marfice and Collin Madsen to start the third quarter and the game even with 6:67 left in the quarter.
St. Thomas retook the lead on a goal by David Burke with 5:37 to play in the third. The Tommies then struck seven seconds later as Joe Palermo won a faceoff and took the ball right to cage for the two goal advantage. Madsen scored at the 4:34 mark of the third to send the game to the fourth with the Griffins trailing, 7-6.
Palermo scored his second of the night at the 8:15 point of the final stanza in what would be the eventual game winner. Matt Hearn brought Westminster back within 8-7 with 6:52 to play only to see Matt Kleven add the insurance goal with 5:18 remaining to seal the Tommies second straight title.
The final game as a member of Division II of the MCLA for the Griffins saw them get outshot 36-27 while also giving up a 32-19 edge in ground balls to STU. Westminster was just 1-of-6 with the extra-man advantage as it looked for the team’s first national title since 2008.
Fairman and Madsen each managed five shots in the game to lead the Griffins. Madsen put four of his attempts on cage, and he also won six of the 10 faceoffs he took. Kyle Postler finished with two assists for the Griffins. Chris Burckle gave the team a shot making 11 saves in cage.
STU got goals from seven different players and had 20 shots on cage for the day. Steven Bang made seven saves to earn the win for the Tommies.
It was announced at halftime of the game that Westminster players Madsen, Burckle and Matt Lambourne were named to the All-Tournament Team.