ST. JOSEPH - Coming off its first two losses of 2024, Missouri Western Lacrosse responded in a big way with a 17-5 win over Daemen (New York) Sunday at Spratt Stadium.

Junior Sam Pruitt scored a career-high seven goals and also became the second Griffon player to surpass 100 goals in a Missouri Western uniform, joining Madison Brady on the all-time list. Redshirt freshman Jordan Porter added three goals. Maleah Sosa and Clare Sondrall. Mikaela Ness also had seven forced turnovers on the day, which is a MWSU single-game record. 

The Griffons controlled all aspects of the game. MWSU won the ground ball battle (31-13) draw controls (14-11) and dominated Daemen in shots 43-16. The Griffons, who average 17.82 turnovers per game, had a season-low nine in Sunday's victory.  

Sunday marked a solid bounce-back for Western, who entered the week receiving votes in the national polls for the first time in school history. After a 4-0 start, MWSU had dropped its last two contests to #6 Grand Valley and Northern Michigan. Sunday's win improves Western's record to 5-2 overall.

"We were able to put together a complete game in all four quarters of play," said third year lacrosse head coach Jessica Berg. 

"Good team effort across the board that saw many players make an impact. We focused on fine-tuning our decision making and celebrated the little things all over the field. The challenge now is to be more consistent."

The Griffons have a full week off before traveling to Colorado for a rocky Mountain road trip. MWSU will face Regis on March 17 and The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs on Tuesday, March 19. Berg is an alum and former standout lacrosse student-athlete at Regis.