The Westminster men’s lacrosse team opens play in the 2016 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Lacrosse Tournament on Friday. The No. 2 seed Griffins play No. 3 seed Rockhurst at 4 p.m., in the first semifinal game.
The tournament is being hosted by Colorado Mesa University with games being played at Walker Field. The second semifinal will see No. 1 seed Colorado Mesa against No. 4 seed Adams State at 7 p.m., on Friday. The championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m., on Saturday.
All three games of the RMAC Tournament will be carried live on RMACSPORTS.TV and is being produced by Colorado Mesa with a team from Inside Lacrosse calling the action. RMACSPORTS.TV is available online and on your mobile device through the Game Central portal.
Live stats will also be available for all three games of the tournament.
Westminster finished the regular season with an 8-2 overall record. The Griffins shared the regular season title in the RMAC by going 7-1 in conference games. They lost the chance to host the conference tiebreaker on a goal differential tiebreaker. The Griffins were 2-0 in neutral site games and 4-1 on the road this season.
The Griffins lead the RMAC by scoring 13.20 goals per game while also sitting atop the conference rankings at 7.60 assists and 20.80 points per game. They would rank 13th in the NCAA in scoring offense and 21st with a .312 shot percentage. The team is taking 42.30 shots per game with 61.2 percent on cage.
Josh Holland leads the team with 32 goals and is second in the RMAC and 10th in the NCAA by scoring 3.20 goals per game. Holland ranks fourth in the conference at 1.20 assists per game to put him second in the league – 13th in the NCAA – at 4.40 points per game. Thomas Sarjeant leads the conference and would rank third in the NCAA by averaging 2.70 assists per game. Cole Flinders is fourth in the RMAC by scoring 2.30 goals per game.
Westminster is allowing 8.80 goals per game with opponents taking 33.9 shots per contests. The opposition puts 59.9 percent of those shots on goal with a .260 shot percentage. The Griffins have won a .610 faceoff percentage and .869 clearing percentage. They have held the opposition to .813 clearing percentage.
Jake Berard is winning .603 percent of faceoffs to rank 16th in the NCAA and second in the RMAC among those with enough attempts. He leads the team with 51 ground balls and is second in the RMAC at 5.10 per game. Tanner Duryea is ninth in the RMAC by averaging 0.88 caused turnovers per game.
Westminster sits second in the conference with an 8.65 goals against average. The Griffins are third in the league with a .567 save percentage and 11.50 saves per game. Philip Cannell is second in the conference and eighth in the NCAA with his 7.99 GAA. He ranks fourth in the RMAC in save percentage (.578) and saves per game (9.60).
Holland was honored by the RMAC for his performance on the field and in the classroom. Along with being named First Team All-RMAC at midfield, Holland was the league’s Midfielder of the Year. He was also named the RMAC Academic Player of the Year, given to the top player in the league in athletic performance and academic achievement.
The RMAC also honored Sarjeant with first team all-conference accolades at attack. Westminster had another five players named Second Team All-RMAC. Flinders made the team at attack with Duryea and Nathan Wade being named at defense. Berard made the team as a faceoff specialist, and Fairman was chosen at defensive midfield.
Holland enters the RMAC Tournament with 116 career goals to rank sixth in school history. He ranks second in school history by scoring 2.76 goals per game in his career. Holland is also sixth in team history with 157 points and third by taking 327 shots. Fairman is seventh in team history with 111 goals, and Sarjeant is fourth with 56 career assists. Berard is second in Westminster history with 204 ground balls and with a career .594 faceoff winning percentage.