HICKORY, N.C.— Joe Wulforst IV and Brandon Wilson each scored hat-tricks while Remi Reeves made a an impressive 19 saves to lead the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks in their first NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Tournament appearance in program history on Saturday here at Moretz Stadium against host and South Region No. 1 seed Lenoir-Rhyne University. 
 
The Mavericks, the first team from the Mountain Time Zone and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to ever qualify for the national tournament, were the fourth seed and led 11-10 with just over six minutes to go but watched the Bears score four straight goals in a 5 ½-minute fourth-quarter stretch to claim the 14-12 win.  
 
CMU, ranked 10^th nationally, saw a 10-game winning streak come to an end as the fifth-ranked Bears improved to 17-2 while avenging a 13-12 Maverick win here back on Feb. 24. 
 
The Mavericks finish their historic year with a 17-3 record after winning their third consecutive RMAC regular season and tournament titles.  This year's squad also went 8-0 in RMAC play and defeated a pair of national-tournament qualifying teams in the Bears and No. 3 seed Tampa, which fell 12-11 in overtime to No. 2 seed Saint Leo in Florida on Saturday.
 
Wulforst and Wilson each scored first quarter goals to give CMU a 2-1 lead before the Bears took a 3-2 lead after the first quarter.  However, the Mavericks would score three straight goals to open the second while building a 5-3 lead only to see the Bears score three of their own to re-gain a 6-5 lead.
 
The game was tied at 7 at the half before the Mavericks built a 10-8 edge with 6:41 left in the third after Calen Ketcham fed Wilson and Wulforst on third-quarter goals, good for two of his four assists.
 
However, the Bears would score twice to tie the game at 10 heading into the fourth quarter, which was opened by a Nate Scully unassisted goal, which put the Mavericks up 11-10 with 13:58 to go.
 
The Bears then clamped down defensively holding the Mavericks without another goal until there were just nine seconds to go while tallying four markers of their own to claim the victory.