GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The No. 21 Mavericks faced their second ranked opponent this week when they took on No. 4 Lindenwood Saturday afternoon on Walker Field in the opening game of the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Season. The Mavericks fell 18-15 and dropped their first contest of the year for an overall record of 3-1. The Lions kept their record clean and improved to 6-0 on the season.
Mary Koch recorded a career high six goals while Marissa Leonardi and Olivia Hayden also recorded hat tricks by scoring three goals each.
Hayden has recorded at least three goals in each of the Mavericks games this season. Paige Elliott assisted eights goals which puts her in the Maverick's record book tied along with three other former Mavs. The Mavericks assisted on 14 of 15 goals.
Lindenwood scored nine goals on free-position shots and had 13 total attempts to the Maverick's four.
Defender Nici Boutwell was the Mavericks starting goal keeper who played the entire first half until Lula Mitchell stepped in as goal keeper for the remainder of the game.
Mary Koch scored the opening goal of the game off an assist from Amanda Barton. Lindenwood tied the game with a free position goal and then proceeded to go up 2-1. The Mavericks never gained a lead after their opening goal.
Koch tied the game at 2-2 and recorded her hat trick with 17:32 remaining in the first half but the Lions still led 4-3.
The Lions converted four free position shots to get a 9-6 lead with one minute remaining before half and scored two more goals to hold an 11-6 lead at the break.
The Mavericks closed the Lions lead by as little as three goals in the first four minutes of the second half at 12-9. Lindenwood registered two more goals until Koch scored her ninth goal of the season when the Mavericks were down a man because of a penalty.
The Mavs scored two more goals from Marissa Leonardi and Maeve Hungerford to reach a two goal deficient with 14:45 remaining, but the Lions were rewarded with two free position shots that they converted to hold a 16-12 lead with just around ten minutes remaining.
The Mavericks scored three more goals in the final ten minutes but it was not enough for a comeback as they fell 18-15 for their first loss of the season.
Next Up
The Mavericks will play Rockhurst next week on March 13 at 4pm on Walker Field.
