GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – After a series of road games, the No. 25 Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse team will have the chance to showcase their talents to home crowd, as they open the conference season Saturday against Westminster on Maverick Field.

ROADTRIP RECAP
Three of the Mavericks last four opponents have been nationally ranked, including battles with the No. 2 ranked team, twice in Lindenwood, and then again in UIndy who took over the No. 2 spot in the recent Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) coaches poll.

Against Lindenwood the Mavericks put up a fight, and threatened the Lions unscathed record but saw their early lead overtaken and a late run fall short, 18-13.

Ashton Whittle, Lauren Wick and Kiley Davis netted three goals apiece to lead the scoring efforts. Whittle also snagged a ground ball, and nine draw controls in the contest. Lula Mitchell recorded 16 saves, amongst the 34 shots goal taken by the Lions.

The Mavs were also just the second team to reach double-figures over the Lions, RMAC rival Regis being the other.

Following Sunday's match, the team headed to Indianapolis to face another nationally ranked opponent in UIndy. The Greyhounds maintained their trend of holding opponents to single digits, with a 18-7 decision over the Mavs.

Taylor Jakeman scored within the first ninety seconds of play to give her team the upper hand, but the Greyhounds quickly answered back to tie it up, eventually open one of their two 4-0 scoring runs to take over the lead.

CMU would work to close the gap, cutting into the lead but were left quiet for most of the second period.
Seven different Mavericks were behind each of the team's goals, and Lula Mitchell tallied another double-figure save effort, with 19 on the afternoon.

WICK(ED) SCORING
Sophomore, Lauren Wick leads the Mavericks scoring efforts with seven goals, assisting on five others for a team high 12-points. The midfielder out of Prior Lake, Minnesota has scored in every game thus far, with a season high three goals against Lindenwood.

WHITTLE DOING A BIT OF EVERYTHING
Junior, Ashton Whittle sits third on the team in goals with six, to go along with two assists, but leads the team in draw controls with 19. She's also caused the second most turnovers with four and is tied with teammates Kiley Davis and Kelsey Viger for most ground balls at eight.

SCOUTING THE GRIFFINS
The Westminster Griffins enters Saturday's conference opener with 0-2 record on the young season. They opened play against UCCS on Mar. 5 dropping a 20-11 decision, then were held to just three points against Regis the following day.
Courtney McCabe has started both games for the Griffins, and currently has the most goals at four, all of which were scored in the season opener against UCCS. Phebe Walker contributed two goals against UCCS, and accounted for one of the team's three scores versus Regis.

NATIONAL RANKING
The Mavericks first popped into the IWLCA poll at No. 25 back on March 8. Since then they have remained in the conversation and upheld that spot for the past two weeks.

Lindenwood who previously sat in the No. 2 spot, overtook the top-spot and UIndy replaced them at No. 2. Adelphi who still received a majority of the first-place votes has yet to compete this season, moving them down to the No. 3 spot.

RMAC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Snagging one first-place vote, Colorado Mesa brought in 29-total points and were predicted to finish second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll. The other six first-place votes available were awarded to Regis who were favored to win the conference.

Kenzie Blackwell and Ashton Whittle landed on the 'Players to Watch' list.
Blackwell, a senior attack out of Granite Bay, Calif. returns for the Mavericks after a shortened 2020 season. Before the pandemic shut down the season, Blackwell led the team in goals racking up 11 in four games. She also assisted on five others for 16-total points, and scooped up seven ground balls, while causing two turnovers.

Whittle returns for her junior season as another key contributor to the Mavs front line attack. She started all four games during the abbreviated 2020 season, and scored the third most goals on the team with six.
 
MCHALE AT THE HELM
This seasons Maverick women's lacrosse team is under new leadership, with head coach Shannon McHale taking over the reins back in June of 2020.  McHale came to Colorado Mesa after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach at perennial powerhouse Florida Southern. During her time with the Mocs, she helped the squad finish as the national runner-up, had six players earn IWLCA all-America honors, and won 18-straight games en route to the national title game.