GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Women's Lacrosse team recorded their first ever win over a nationally-ranked foe as the nation's 21st-ranked Mavericks raced out to an 8-2 halftime lead en-route to a 14-11 win over the No. 15 Grand Valley State University Lakers in a key NCAA Division II Midwest Region match-up on Tuesday evening at Walker Field.
 
The Mavericks, who had dropped their previous 17 games against ranked opponents dating back to 2013, improved to 3-0 while the Lakers fell to 3-1.
 
Olivia Hayden and Kenzie Blackwell scored four goals each while Paige Elliott had three goals and a career-high five assists, just one shy of a Maverick single-game record. Hayden also had 10 draw controls, seven caused turnovers and seven ground balls.
 
Erin Koehler also had a strong defensive game with six ground balls and five caused turnovers while sophomore net-minder Lula Mitchell made seven saves.
 
The Lakers received hat-tricks from Kelley Fitzgerald and Abbi O'Neal and 13 saves from Abigail Dengler making a late run with five goals over the final 12 minutes to make the final score closer.
 
CMU had led by as many as eight at 13-5 and 14-6.
 
The Mavericks out-shot the Lakers 21-6 in the first half and finished with a 34-29 advantage overall.  The Mavs also had a 36-25 edge in ground balls and forced the Lakers into 30 turnovers.
 
The Mavs also converted for goals on three of the Lakers' four yellow cards
 
Hayden scored two of the game's first three goals and had a hat-trick before halftime.  The Mavs led 4-0 after 13 minutes as Paige Elliott, Hayden and Blackwell all converted on free position shots.
 
The Lakers then got their first goal with 16:31 left in the first half before the Mavs went on another 3-0 run and then added another Hayden marker with just 21 seconds left.
 
Grand Valley would get two quick goals to begin the second half before Blackwell added two goals in a 5-1 spurt the put CMU up 13-5 with just over 15 minutes to go.
 
Fitzgerald and Elliott then traded goals just 40 seconds apart before the Lakers game-ending 5-0 run.
 
CMU will have another chance at a nationally-ranked foe on Saturday when they host the fourth-ranked Lindenwood University Lions at 1 p.m. in what will be their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest.