WICHITA FALLS, Tex. – For the second consecutive weekend, the Colorado Mesa men's soccer team hits the road, this time heading to Wichita Falls, Texas where they will play another set of neutral site matches, hosted by Midwestern State at 'Stang Park.

Both contests will be a meeting of ranked opponents, as the Mavericks enter the weekend at No. 10 and will take on No. 19 Simon Fraser on Thursday at 4 p.m. MST. They will then meet up with No. 25 Fort Hays on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. MST to close out the weekend.

Games will be live streamed on the Lone Star Conference network at a pay-per-view cost of $10.00. Tickets must be purchased online at msumustangs.com.

Weekend Recap
In their first road series of the young season, the Mavericks endured air quality delays on day one, pushing back their start time nearly five hours. Regardless, the team grinded out a 2-1 win over MSU Billings to uphold a clean slate.

Senior midfielder, Chris Boyd teamed up with John Roberts for the first goal of the evening in the 31^st-minute. MSUB would matched that goal, scoring in the 57^th-minute.

Just as the regulation clock winded down, Colton Shafer send a forward pass to a sprinting Boyd who found himself in a one-on-one situation that would lead to the go-ahead goal.
CMU outshot the Yellowjackets 13-9, taking seven strikes on goal while capping their opponents at three shots on goal.

Before returning home, the Mavericks met up with host Northwest Nazarene. By another 2-1 decision, CMU took home their second win of the weekend and remained unbeaten.
Chris Boyd continued his hot streak, getting up over the Nighthawks defender to head a cross from Joey Joiner, giving the team the 1-0 edge. Coming out the break, the home team would capitalize on an open opportunity evening the score at 1-1.

It would come down to the final 30-seconds of play, when the Mavs overtook an attempt to clear the ball at midfield, setting up David Peters who got in front of the ball and took a few touches before sending a dagger over the keeper's hands, giving him his first goal of his career on a game winner.
The Mavericks sit at 4-0-0 on the season with a pair of shutouts, and surrendered just two goals while collecting eight of their own.

Take Your Pick  
Five different players are behind the Mavericks eight goals thus far. Chris Boyd leads the way with three, followed by Alec Fronapfel with two. Joey Joiner, David Peters and Isa Trujillo have each contributed a goal as well, providing the team with a number of offensive threats.

During the spring season, 11 players got in on the scoring for the Mavericks.

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.

Moving Up the Ranks
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.

After a successful road trip, two more wins keep the Mavericks undefeated at 4-0-0 and continued to climb the ranks, coming in at No. 10 in the recent USC national poll. Colorado School of Mines suffered their first loss of the season, on a 2-1 result to Regis. The loss dropped the out of the poll completely, while giving way to Regis who entered the poll at No. 22.

Looking Ahead

No. 19 Simon Fraser
Following a season opening loss to Azusa Pacific, the team from Canada has since gone on to win three straight, giving up just a single goal while racking up five against their opponents.

Voted to finish at the top in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Simon Fraser collected 34-points and four first place votes, just beating out Western Washington who are looking to defend their 2019 GNAC title, and received the other first place vote in the poll, totaling 31-points.

Due to COVID-19 and the border closure, they did not compete in the 2020-21 season format. The season prior they finished 11-4-1, 8-3-1 in conference play and return 11 letter winners and seven starters from that squad.

Among those starters are Connor Glennon and Mark Talisuna who both received All-GNAC Second Team honors in 2019. Aidan Bain returns to defend the goal, after producing a 11-4-1 record, and a 0.91 goals against average, with 37 saves and five shutouts in the previous season. So far this season, Bain has 24 saves to his name and is 12^th in the nation in save percentage at .923.

No. 25 Fort Hays
The rumble of ranked opponents continue when the Mavericks take on Fort Hays State on day two of the MSU Classic. The Tigers enter with a 2-1-1 record, notching a win and a loss against fellow RMAC opponents MSU Denver and CSU Pueblo. They battled to a 1-1 draw with then No. 6 Maryville, and most recently tacked on another win, defeating Rockhurst 2-1.

Blake Arndt scored both goals in the win over Rockhurst, overtaking the scorer's leaderboard. On the backside, Kieran Brown preserved the win, deflecting a penalty kick in the final 30-seconds to give his team the victory.

Picked to finish second in the Great American Conference (GAC), they received a first place vote behind Rogers State who was the unanimous favorite. FHSU took home the 2019 GAC/MIAA Regular Season title, and have made the NCAA Tournament for eight consecutive seasons.

The Tigers will face off with the Dustdevils of Texas A&M International on Thursday, before meeting the Mavs on Saturday.