Box Score

With an 8-6 victory over the Adams State College Grizzlies, competing in only their second season of D-II Lacrosse, the Colorado Mesa Mavericks Men's lacrosse team has been crowned champions of the Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.

The Mavericks finished the year on a high note en route to a season sweep over the Grizzlies and ended with a 9-4 overall record with a 6-2 record against WILA opponents.  The victory, however, did not come easy for the Mavericks as the Grizzlies played hard up until the very end.

The first quarter saw the Mavs struggle to find the back of the net as the Grizzlies capitalized on a few Maverick mistakes; the Grizzlies struck first at 9:36 which came after a man-up opportunity and would close out the period with two more to go up 3-0 heading into the second quarter.  The second was all about the Mavs, however, as Kade Robinson finally got the Mavs on the board at 13:25 with his 18th goal of the season; Josh Russell would keep the pressure on the Grizzlies after his 6th goal of the season came with 11:08 remaining in the half and Daniel Caddoo would top off the brief run at 8:54 with his 17th goal of the season to knot the score at 3-3 which would last until the break.

The Mavs kept piling on the goals in the 3rd quarter after Russell added his second goal of the game (7th of the season) at 12:34 in the third to put the Mavs up 4-3, but the lead would last all of 7 seconds as the Grizzlies scored immediately after the faceoff to keep the game close with 12:27 left in the quarter.  The Mavs could not be stopped as Austin Pridham notched his 13th and 14th goals of the season at 11:20 and 6:53, and he was followed by the 5th goal on the year for Aaron Eggiman at 2:00 which gave the Mavs a nice 7-4 cushion heading into the final quarter of the game.  In the 4th, Caddoo netted his 18th goal of the year at 14:28, which tied Robinson for the team lead, as the Mavs saw their biggest lead of the day at 8-4 before the Grizzlies added two more to their total only to see their effort fall short as the Maverick defense took over through the end of the game to make the score 8-6 final.

The trio of Russell, Caddoo, and Pridham led the offensive effort for the Mavs as each finished the game with 2 goals; Russell added an assist as well as 2 groundballs, Caddoo would add 3 groundballs to his total, and Pridham also added an assist.  Robinson was very active on the offensive end as well as he finished with 1 goal on 5 shots with 1 assist; Eggiman added 3 groundballs in addition to his goal.

Johnny Nitti and Danny Duresky led the defensive effort for the Mavs as Nitti notched 5 groundballs and 1 caused turnover, and Duresky dug up 3 groundballs and 1 caused turnover.  Zach Weaver earned the goalie decision for the Mavs as he spent the entire game in the net while grabbing 6 groundballs and stopping 8 shots.