Colorado Mesa University's men's lacrosse team will be traveling to Hickory, N.C. to be competing in their first ever NCAA men's lacrosse tournament. CMU will be facing off against the Lenoir-Rhyne University (LRU) Bears in the first round of the tournament.
 
They were one of eight teams selected to be competition for the national championship. The Mavericks come into the tournament as the fourth seed from the south region (which is the final team to make it from that region).
 
This is the second time this season that the Mavericks and Bears will be facing off against one another (and the second time in the history of both programs). In the first meeting, LRU was ranked No. 3 in the nation, and the Mavericks went on the road to defeat them in regulation 13-12. It took a game winning goal from Jack Griffin with 32 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Mavericks their first ever victory over a top five team in the nation.
 
CMU was up by as much as five goals in the game after a goal by Griffin early in the third. Despite the large lead the Bears were still able to climb their way back into the contest and force the game to come down to the final minutes.
 
While the Mavericks will be without their savior in Griffin for this weekend's matchup, they still have a lot of offensive firepower coming into the contest. Along with Griffin, Reece Callies, Calen Ketcham and Brandon Wilson all have at least 30 scores on the year and will be looking for more against the Bears.
 
Callies was a huge factor in the Mavericks claiming their third consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) title last weekend. In the two games he racked up a total of seven points thanks to four goals and three assists. He is by far the leader in total points for CMU this season, currently sitting at 62 for the year.
 
While Callies was the huge offensive facilitator, there was a reason why Remi Reeves received the RMAC Tournament MVP for his work in net for CMU. Not only did he collect two more wins to move up his total to 12 on the year, but he was responsible for helping to keep the Mavericks in the game early and late against Westminster College in the tournament championship.
 
Reeves collected 15 saves in the tournament, with 12 coming against the Griffins. Some of which were unhuman like in their collection. He will have to come up big once again against the Bears. In their first meeting, not only did Reeves play the entire 60 minutes, he was also an unsung hero in the Mavericks victory.
 
While Griffin sealed the deal with the late goal, Reeves was a big reason why they were even in that position to begin with. He collected a season high 21 saves in the contest and allowed the Mavericks many opportunities offensively to get the lead.
 
This game however will be no easy task for CMU. LRU will be looking for revenge against the team that ended their chance at a perfect season. The Bears only lost one game for the remainder of the year, going 12-1 over the final 13 games. Much like the Mavericks, they too finished undefeated in their conference.
 
Another similarity between these two teams, other than them both finishing with 16-2 records for the year, is this is the Bears first trip to the national tournament as well. They come into the tournament averaging nearly 15 goals per game, while holding their opponents to just nine.
 
Their offense has been led by Joe Buduo, who has a team high 86 points for the Bears. He leads the team with 59 goals on the year and is one of the four Bears players to have over 50 points. He came up huge against CMU in the first meeting, finishing with four goals to go along with two assists.
 
Meanwhile, Ryan Crompton has been the man with the plan in the goal. He has 15 wins on the year and has corralled 189 saves. Against the Mavericks, Crompton finished with 14 saves in the game while allowing all 13 goals.
 
The winner of this game will advance to the second round to take on the winner of Saint Leo University and the University of Tampa (who the Mavericks also knocked off in a one goal affair earlier in the year). That game will take place on May 19. Following that is the championship match on May 27.
 
The game time for CMU and LRU is set for 12 p.m. MST on Saturday.