GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – With four games completed in the conference schedule, the Colorado Mesa men's soccer team is just one of two teams left unscathed, as they enter the week that has them splitting time at home and one the road. The Mavericks continue a three-game home stretch with a midweek matchup against Westminster, Wednesday. They then head to the front range Friday to take on the MSU Denver Roadrunners.

The team will kickoff at 6 p.m. on Wednesday on Maverick Field. Friday's contest at the Assembly Athletic Complex in Denver is scheduled to kickoff at 4:30 p.m.

Weekend Wrap Up
Out to avenge their loss to Fort Lewis from two weekends prior, the Mavericks forced an overtime period and came away with the golden goal in the 98^th minute to secure win. Joey Joiner handled both of the team's goals on the night for his first brace of the season.

After a scoreless first half, the Skyhawks would strike first early in the second to take the lead.

Just into the 63^rd minute, Joiner would get behind a deflection in the box curving it in to the upper left pocket to level the score.

Just as the clocked ticked down in the first overtime period, the Mavericks gained possession midfield and connected a series precision passes in towards the goal leading up to the goal. Leo Mireles chipped a ball in from the far sideline, finding Aaron Martinez who tapped it over to Joiner who capitalized on the open lane for the game-winner.

Connor Durant would collect two saves in the second period to force the overtime, securing one more in extra minutes to allow his team to grab the game-winner on the other end.

The Mavericks rode the momentum into Sunday's game where they put together a record-breaking nine goals against Adams State.

Eight different players were behind the team's offensive success, leading the way was Ross Elliott who put in a career best two goals, to go along with an assist. Leo Mireles assisted on three of the goals, taking matters into his own hands on a free kick in the 64^th-minute for his second score of the season.

Elliot netted his first goal of the season in the 50^th-minute, running down a pass to slide it in past the Grizzly keeper. His second brace came in the 89^th-minute, taking advantage of an open goal. Tristan Widic grabbed his first goal of the season in the 72^nd-minute, soaring above the ASU defenders for a header inside the far post.

Josiah Henderson and Berkler Fuller IV secured their first goals in a Maverick uniform, Henderson timing a header of his own and a far cross from John Roberts. Fuller's goal came in the 83^rd-minute, making the most of a 1v1 opportunity thanks to a pass from Diogo Silva.

David Peters opened the scoring in the 14^th-minute, getting up to connect with in inbound corner kick from Gabriel Peres. Later in the half, Jannick
Lange recorded his second tally of the season on an identical situation to Peters, Mireles being behind the corner kick. Three of the Mavs nine goals were scored off of corner kicks.

Record Breakers
The team's nine goals scored against Adams State over the weekend, now takes over the most goals scored in a single game by the Mavericks.

The previous record was set back in Sept. 28, 2012 when the Mavs put seven past Colorado Christian. Six different players scored in that outing, Brandon Burton leading the way with a pair in the win.

That same game set the record in points with 20, behind a culmination of the seven goals and six assists.
36 shots were taken on Sunday, which also matched the program record set just about six years prior, also against Colorado Christian.
Mireles' three assists matched a program high, the last current player to do it was Ramses Atahualpa back in Sept. 2019 against Northwest Nazarene.

Elliot and Mireles each tallied five points, tied for 7^th most in a single-game. The most recent to do it was Alec Fronapfel when he put together five points against Regis on April 17, 2021 with a pair of goals and an assist.

A Look at the Herd
The Mavericks now have four times the amount of goals scored by opponents, averaging nearly three per game. After surpassing the 100-shot mark after the first meeting with Fort Lewis, they eclipsed 200-shots in the four games following for an average of 16.8 per game. Of those shots, just under half of them have been on goal for a .475 SOG percentage.

Offensively, they pose threat getting into scoring territory and keeping ball in the opponent's half with an 84-51 edge in corner kicks.

As one of now two teams in the conference with unblemished records, they lead the conference in scoring average at 2.6, and have the second lowest number of goals allowed at eight, behind CSU Pueblo who has conceded seven. In 12 games, they edge out CSU Pueblo with 96 shots on goal, for an average of 8.0 per game.

In terms of goals, the Mavericks have tallied 10 game winners and were the first to strike on 10 different occasions, coming away with two overtime goals. Now with 35 assists, they remain atop the RMAC, just shy of averaging three per game.

Spreading the Wealth
13 different players are behind the team's 32 goals, leading the way is redshirt sophomore Alec Fronapfel with five. The Fort Collins native picked up where he left off last season, extending his scoring streak to five with goals in the first to games of the season. His heroics in the overtime thriller against Texas A&M International, gave way to a 5-0 start to the season.

Fronapfel is just one of nine players who have multiple goals on the season, amidst them is the trio of Chris Boyd, Joey Joiner and David Peters who have three goals thus far.

Behind a combined four assists over the weekend, Leo Mireles now leads the team in that category. John Roberts and Raymond Jackson are not far behind with four a piece, multiple others dishing out help to the Mavs offense.

United Soccer Coaches Poll
Following an impressive 6-1-1 spring season, that saw the Mavericks capture a share of the RMAC Regular season title, the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll saw CMU come in at No. 21.

With two more wins under the belt and a clean conference record, the Mavericks have moved up three spots to No. 12 in the recent USC National Poll, with a 10-2 overall record. Colorado School of Mines reenters the poll at No. 25 at 9-3 overall. CSU Pueblo slips in the receiving votes as the only other RMAC team garnering national recognition.

Scouting the Griffins
At an even 6-6 record overall, Westminster has put together a 3-1 record in their four conference games thus far, their only loss coming to CSU Pueblo. Last weekend they put six past, Adams State two days prior to the Mavs 9-0 shutout.

They followed up with a similar overtime win against Fort Lewis to close out the weekend. Max Bingman came away with the golden-goal in the 96^th minute, producing two goals and an assist on the weekend.

Junior midfielder, Luke Merrill is the team leader in goals with three goals, along with an assist. He was behind the equalizer against FLC early in the second half.

The last time these two went head to head, Noah Larkin had been between the posts. However, in the last five games, redshirt sophomore Ian Rose has picked up the start, with a 5-2 record thus far. He has 35 saves on the season, with eight goals conceded for an .814 save percentage.

Series History
The Mavs hold a 12-2-2 record over the Griffins, and have snagged the last two outings. When the teams met back in September, CMU scored twice in the first period and held strong through the second for the win.
During the spring season, the teams battled to a draw in the first meeting. When they met weeks later, Ramses Atahualpa secured the game-winner in double overtime to help the Mavs secure a share of the RMAC Regular Season title.

Roadrunner Recon
Sitting at 4-7-1 overall, they have a reversed RMAC record than the Griffins at 1-3. Their lone league win came over South Dakota Mines, but have scored in all of their other conference contests to avoid shutouts.
Aidan Bates has been the leading scorer with five goals on the season, recording a brace early on against Texas Permian Basin. Sam Funnell is one of two players with three assists, and scored a pair of goals against Lubbock Christian to add to his stats.
Junior goalkeeper Ross Miller has been the primary ball handler in the box, collecting 48 saves on a 4-6-1 record and a shutout.

Series History
The teams are knotted at 11-11 in the overall series, with five draws dating back to 2007. CMU has taken the last six meetings – all in shutout fashion. They did meet during the spring season, the Mavs running away with a 2-0 decision, withholding the Roadrunners from taking a shot on goal and just three shots in total.

RMAC Preseason Poll
The Maverick men picked up five first-place votes and were favored in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Poll. Colorado School of Mines matched the Mavericks first-place votes, both teams expected to finish at the top of conference.
The Orediggers came in at No. 8 in the United Soccer Coaches (USC) preseason poll, and have since moved up to No. 4. CSU Pueblo took the No. 3 spot, followed by Fort Lewis who picked up a first-place vote, coming in at No. 4.

Season Two
Head coach Jon Fridal enters his first fall season at the helm of Colorado Mesa men's soccer. Hired in December of 2020, he coached the Mavericks throughout the condensed 2021 spring season where the team finished 5-0-1 in conference play and earned hosting rights to the RMAC Tournament. The team appeared in the championship match, finishing the season with a 6-1-1 record.
After capturing a share of the RMAC regular season title, Fridal was named RMAC Coach of the Year. Ethan Anderson and Brendan Brown also headlined the postseason honors, grabbing Co-Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year.
Along with Anderson and Brown, Fridal coached two other RMAC First Team members in Daisuke Takanaka and Alec Fronapfel, with Isa Trujillo rounding out the honorees on the All-RMAC Honorable Mention team.
In addition to their on-field accomplishments, eight players picked up RMAC All-Academic Honors, and two being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.