GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse team (2-3, 1-0 RMAC) opened their conference portion of the season scoring a season high, 18 goals to lift them over Westminster. This week they welcome the Adams State Grizzlies to town to continue conference action.
LAST TIME OUT
Behind a 4-goal performance from
Kiley Davis, and hat tricks from
Melanie Evans and
Taylor Jakeman, the Maverick offense fired off 42 shots to the Griffins 25.
Davis scored within the first 30-seconds of play, giving her team a slight lead, only to have it overtaken by the Griffins in the following minutes.
Each team took turns drawing blood throughout the rest of the half, before
Regan Wentz and
Ashton Whittle scored giving the Mavs a three-goal edge. The lead was increased to 10-6 on a last second goal from Davis.
With five minutes to go, CMU held their largest lead at 16-10 and would tack on two more goals by the end of regulation, while allowing one goal through for the final 18-11 decision.
SCOUTING THE GRIZZLIES
The Grizzlies come into Thursday's contest with just one game under their belt. Last Saturday they fell to Fort Lewis, 25-1.
Jazmine Palacios was behind the lone goal for the team, while Louisa Sanchez denied four shots.
The Mavericks are 17-0 in the overall series, and enjoyed a 19-0 victory the last time they met in 2019.
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.
