St. Paul, Mn. - Missouri Western lacrosse began its second season in existence with a 13-8 loss at Concordia St. Paul Friday.  

The Griffons (0-1) had some apparent season-opening jitters, falling behind 4-1 in the first quarter and trailing 6-2 at halftime. The second half saw a much more even matchup against a Concordia team (3-2) playing in its 5th game of 2022. 

"It's a tough loss, but Concordia is a really good team," interim head coach Jessica Berg said. "You could tell there were nerves, but that's not an excuse.  Offensively, we were a little more individual than I prefer and we need to clean some things up with our stick work."

Madison Brady had 3 goals for the Griffons and Amani Robinson added 2.  Mikaela Ness, Sam Pruitt and Abby Lockwood also scored for MWSU.

Goalie Mackenzie Porter had 13 saves in net.  Western forced 23 turnovers but committed 29.  

"Our defense really kept us in the game," Berg said. "We made some big plays and made them use their shot clock.  We're obviously a young team and we can only go up from here."

Friday's opener also marked the sideline debut for Berg, who took the reins as interim head coach in December.  She joined MWSU as the assistant coach in August of 2021, just three months removed from completing her All-American playing career at Regis University.  

"It was obviously an adjustment for me," she said.  "Just getting used to a different perspective. I feel blessed to be in this position, but we will all learn and we will adjust."

The Griffons return to action  on Thursday, March 3rd for their home opener against Northern Michigan at 4pm.