DENVER— The most successful season in Colorado Mesa University Women's Lacrosse history came to an end on Sunday as the Mavericks battled to the very end before falling to top-seeded and the nation's second-ranked Regis University Rangers by a tight 16-14 score in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional title game on Sunday here at the RU Match Pitch.
 
The 2-goal margin was equal to the second tightest in 21 all-time games against the unbeaten Rangers (20-0), who move on to their second consecutive NCAA Division II Final Four next weekend in Allendale, Michigan.
 
The third-seeded and nation's 17^th-ranked Mavericks, who claimed an historic NCAA Division II victory over No. 8 Lindenwood in their national tournament debut on Friday afternoon, finished the year with a 15-4 record, two more wins than any CMU squad has ever won before, and as one of the final eight teams nation-wide.
 
Individual single-season history was also made on Sunday as senior Olivia Hayden netted a game-high four goals while surpassing Jessica Cook's 2016 single-season school-record for markers.  Hayden finished the year with 62, three more than Cook.  She also added had eight more draw controls to lead all players on Sunday.  In the process, she increased her all-time Maverick leading single-season and career totals to 162 and 397, respectively.
 
The Mavericks never led but overcame an early 3-1 deficit with goals from Paige Elliott and Kiley Barber just 1:26 apart to equalize at 3-3 with 18:04 left in the first half.  However, the Rangers would score three of the next four goals to open a 6-4 lead and after Hayden scored her first goal of the game with 5:34 left on the first half clock, RU seized control with three straight goals to end the half with a 9-5 lead.
 
The Rangers then tacked on another goal less than a minute in to the second half to build a 10-5 cushion, their largest.
 
However, the Mavericks came roaring back with a 3-0 run, started by a Marissa Leonardi free position marker.  Barber, who had three goals and three assists to lead the Mavs with six offensive points, and Kenzie Blackwell, then continued the hot spurt as the Mavericks pulled within two (10-8) with 23:29 left.
 
However, the Rangers responded with a 3-0 run of their own to bring the lead back up to five. 
 
Hayden the broke the single-season scoring record with 12 minutes to go and scored another just 28 seconds later as the Mavericks held on to belief, down just three (13-10) with 11:32 left.
 
RU's Ali Vanek and Hayden then exchanged goals before Sarah Myres, scored her 91^st goal of the year, to put the Rangers up 15-11 with 9:41 to go.
 
They then added another goal with 7:47 left before Barber, Leonardi and Paige Elliott scored the final goals of the game for CMU to cut the final deficit.
 
The final team statistics were just as even as the final scoreboard indicated.  The Rangers had a 19-13 edge in draw controls but had just one more groundball (30-29) than the Mavs.
 
Turnovers were also fairly even as the Mavericks were guilty of 23, two more than RU.
 
The biggest difference came in free position shots as the Rangers converted on four of 11 opportunities.  The Mavericks were 1-for-4.
 
Ranger net-minder Elle Crawford finished with 13 saves while her CMU counterpart Lula Mitchell made a season-high 12, surpassing her earlier season-best of 11, which had come in Friday's win.  She also had a team-leading six ground balls on the day.
 
Katelyn Parry had four caused turnovers to go with four ground balls as another defensive standout.