GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – In the Mavericks first home game of the season after being on the road the previous five games they fell to Rollins 12-8. Prior to this loss the Mavericks had not lost a home game in 20 matches and had gone the previous two seasons with a perfect home record. Their last home loss dates back to the opening game of the 2016 season.
Rollins outshot the Mavericks 38-28 and picked up 12 more ground balls than the Mavs throughout the game. Despite falling in those categories the Mavs won 17 face offs compared to the Tars' slim seven.
Jack Griffin led the way for the Mavericks recording his third hat-trick of the season and second consecutive three-goal performance.
Rollins line up included three players who finished with three or more goals in tonight's game.
Michael Marino led the team in ground balls and won 17-of-24 face offs as he was the Mavs lone man to do the honors.
The Mavericks got out to a hot start scoring the opening two goals of the game. One coming from Joe Wulforst IV and the other from Jack Griffin. This was Wulforst's first goal of the season while Griffin recorded his fifteenth. The Tars evened the score 2-2 by the end of the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter the game was tied again 3-3 just before Rollin's netted two goals to take a 5-3 lead at the half.
From this point on Rollins led and recorded more than twice as many goals than they did in the first half. By the end of the third quarter they held a 9-5 lead.
Colorado Mesa made it interesting midway through the final quarter when they scored back-to-back goals from Clayton Grave and Griffin as they trailed 10-7 with 6:14 remaining. There was still hope for the Mavs until CMU was dinged for too many players on the field and Rollins scored their eleventh goal on a man up opportunity with just under three minutes to play.
The Maverick's final goal of the game was good from Nate Surd but not enough as the Tars had the final say and claimed a 12-8 win over the nationally ranked Mavericks.
Next Up
The Mavericks will travel to Florida next week for a two game road trip which falls on Colorado Mesa's spring break. They will play University of Tampa followed by Florida Southern College on March 20th and 24th, respectively.
