Colorado Mesa University is set to host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) tournament this weekend for the third consecutive season. After the Mavericks were able to complete a perfect 8-0 conference regular season, CMU claimed their third consecutive RMAC regular season title. They will be looking to complete the RMAC double if they are able to win two more games this weekend.
 
CMU enters the week ranked No. 10 in the nation once again, and they are slotted in the fourth seed in the south region rankings. They fall behind Lenoir-Rhyne, Saint Leo and Tampa.
 
In the first round of the tournament, the Mavericks will be up against the No. 4 seeded CSU-Pueblo (CSUP) Thunderwolves. This is the first season that the Thunderwolves have made the RMAC tournament since it was created back in 2016.
 
The Mavericks have fared well against the Thunderwolves. Since the two teams began playing against one another, CMU is a perfect 6-0. They have won all six games by an average of 12.5 goals per game.
 
In the two games the Mavericks and the Thunderwolves played against each other this season, CMU came out victorious 20-6 in Pueblo, and then 27-8 while at Walker Field. The 27 goals that CMU put up was the second most goals they have scored in a game this season, and the most against an RMAC opponent in program history.
 
Not only did the Mavericks score 27 times, but they were scored by 17 different players. Jayden Campbell, Reece Callies and Johnny Cary all finished with hat tricks. Then there were four players that each finished with two scores and 10 that finished with one. Callies accumulated a team high nine points in the two games against the Thunderwolves.
 
Callies has been a consistent offensive threat for the Mavericks this season. He scored a team high 35 goals to go along with 20 assists to give him a team high 55 points. That was good enough to get him the RMAC Offensive Player of the Year honors for the 2018 season.
 
He is joined by Calen Ketcham, Jack Griffin and Brandon Wilson who have all scored at least 26 goals and have at least 40 cumulative points.
 
CSUP closed out the regular season with a 14-9 win over Adams State University on Apr. 28, which gave them a 6-8 overall record and a 2-6 conference record.
 
Offensively, the Thunderwolves have been reliant on Blake Forester, Taylor Davis and Anthony Ferrie. The three have combined for 107 of the teams 175 goals scored this year. That is 61 percent of the scores coming from these three players. Foerster was by far the leader in assists as well with 30 on the year, giving him 67 total points in his senior season.
 
If the Mavericks hold off the Thunderwolves, they will play the winner of Rockhurst University (RU) and Westminster College (WC) in the championship game on Saturday.
 
The Hawks are ranked No. 18 in the nation entering the week. In the two games against the Mavericks, CMU went 2-0. However, they were the second closest finishes against RMAC opponents this season. The Mavericks only won the games by an average of three goals a game.
 
The team that played the Mavericks the closest in the RMAC is the Hawks opponent in the first round, WC. The Griffins lost twice to the Mavericks, but it took a Ketcham goal with 25.7 seconds remaining in the first game, and a goal in overtime in the second game to give CMU both of those victories.
 
RU and WC will play at 4 p.m. on Friday, followed by the Mavericks and Thunderwolves at 7 p.m. The championship game is set to start at 2 p.m. on Saturday.