Colorado Springs, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa men's soccer team capped off their conference opening road trip with a 3-1 win over the UCCS Mountain Lions, Sunday afternoon at Mountain Lion Stadium.
The Maverick offense continues to pose problems on opponents, as they took 19 shots on the day, putting seven between the posts. Their opposition put together 10 shots, landing just three on frame. In the first half, the hosts took all of two shots while the Mavs took nine. A physical battle from the whistle, the game saw 23 fouls and seven yellow cards, three of which were cautioned towards CMU players.
Both sides remained quiet for the better part of the first half, Andreas Kokoska coming up with some big saves to keep the game scoreless.
At the 38-minute mark, the Mavericks lined up for a throw in. Behind the strength and power of
Raymond Jackson from the far sideline, the ball sailed into the box and connected off the head of
Isa Trujillo and back towards
Colton Shafer who timed a header of his own past Kokoska for the first tally of the game, and first for the Gilbert, Arizona native on the season.
Not even a minute after the following kickoff, the Mavs increased their lead to two, as the ball cleared through the midfield, meeting up with a sprinting
Joey Joiner who chipped it into
David Peters who directed just outside the reach of the keeper for his second brace of the season.
As the team's came out of the break, UCCS would spoil the possibility of a shutout in the 53
rd minute, getting a penalty kick opportunity and following through to put the score at 2-1.
Around the 75
th-minute, the Mavs savvy ball control and speed would not be denied as
Fernando Morales sailed a ball across midfield to
Daisuke Takanaka who also tallied his first goal of the season, finding the bottom right pocket of the net to put the team back up by a pair.
UCCS would take the final shot, but nothing would come of it as CMU took home the 3-1 decision and capped off the weekend with a 2-0 start to conference play. They return back to Maverick Field to face off with Fort Lewis and Adams State as conference play continues.
