GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The No. 24 Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse team (6-3, 5-0 RMAC) have been awaiting Wednesday's conference matchup with the No. 10 Regis Rangers. This game will be a clash of two nationally-ranked teams, and two teams with undefeated conference records.
Wednesday's game will also be the first time the Mavericks have hosted the Rangers since March 31, 2018. All previous matches have been played in Denver. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Maverick Field. Prior to game time, three Maverick seniors will be honored.
LAST TIME OUT
Originally scheduled to have two conference matches last weekend, a last-minute change cancelled the Mavericks road trip to Adams State and set up Sunday's game against Fort Lewis.
The teams traded points early on, but midway through the first half the Mavericks went on an 8-0 run to pull ahead 15-6 going into the half.
With some breathing room, the Maverick defense withheld the Skyhawk's from getting into the attack zone, giving up just two goals in the second half. CMU added four more goals to their total for the final 19-8 score.
As a team, Colorado Mesa put together an all-around performance scoring 19 of the their 27 shots on goal, going 17-of-20 in clears, collecting 25 grounds balls, and causing 13 turnovers.
Taylor Jakeman tallied a season high four goals, and four ground balls.
Ashton Whittle and
Kiley Davis and
Lauren Wick each added three goals, with
Melanie Evans leading the team with four assists.
SENIOR SHOWCASE
Raquel Ruhme came to Colorado Mesa from Prior Lake, Minn. Dedicating four seasons to the Maverick squad, she has played in 41 games, recording 33 starts. A member of the defensive core, Ruhme has collected 31 ground balls, caused 21 turnovers and got in on a draw control during her freshman season. This spring, she collected a season high four ground balls against Colorado College, and caused a turnover against Fort Lewis.
Abigail Witmer started her Maverick career in 2018, playing in 42 games with 35 starts. This season she has started all nine games at the defender position, racking up 16 ground balls, 13 draw controls and seven ground balls. The Haymarket, Va. native had a season high two caused turnovers the recent win over Fort Lewis and scooped up six ground balls in the conference opening win over Westminster.
Kenzie Blackwell rounds out the senior class, joining the aforementioned players coming to Grand Junction in 2018. Over the span of four years, she has played in 38 games and made 21 starts. On the attack side of the ball, the Granite Bay, Calif. has accumulated 50 goals and 47 assists, 36 ground balls and caused 17 turnovers in her career. In 2019, she landed on the RMAC All-Academic First Team as well as earned All-RMAC Honorable Mention.
RANGER RECON
Moving up to No. 10 in the recent, Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll the Regis Rangers have dropped just one game this season, falling to Lindenwood, who was ranked No. 2 at the time.
Since then, they have gone on a 10-game winning streak, withholding opponents to just single digit scoring. Their most recent wins came over CSU Pueblo by 21-4, and 22-5 decisions.
Historically, the Rangers have come out on top, the Mavericks having yet to steal a win. When the two met in a non-conference match back on March 11, Regis picked up a 14-2 win.
Lauren Wick and
Kenzie Blackwell were behind the two CMU goals.
Senior, Kyleigh Peoples leads the team's offensive amassing 38 goals and 25 assists. She has also contributed on the defensively, capturing 21 ground balls and causing 17 turnovers.
Elle Crawford has been the primary goalkeeper for the Rangers, sporting a 10-1 record with 39 saves and facing over 100 shots.
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.
