GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Following a successful 2-0 weekend at home, the Colorado Mesa women's soccer team will have their first road tests this weekend, heading to Salt Lake City for a pair of neutral site matches.

The Mavericks will prepare to face a top-10 opponent in Northwest Nazarene (NNU) out of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), before closing out the weekend against Minot State (MSU) out of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

Thursday's feature against the Nighthawks is set to kickoff at 4:30 p.m. MST. Saturday's contest against the Beavers will be an early afternoon contest at 1:30 p.m. MST.

2-0 Weekend
On their home turf to kickoff the fall season, the Mavericks came out victorious in both matches. In Friday's season opener against Texas Permian Basin (UTPB), four different Mavs recorded tallies, giving the team a dominant 5-1 win.
Lila Dere was behind two of the team's goals, while Adessa Correa, Addie Randel and Tatum Pfalmer each notched their first career goals to aid in the win. Mikayla Eccher assisted on both of Dere's goals early in the first half.

Game two of the weekend was a battle with the Wolves of Western Oregon, which saw a 2-1 decision fall in favor of the home team. The visitors struck first converting off a free kick, but the Mavs would answer by making the most of a penalty kick off the foot of none other than Dere.

It took just under five minutes into the second half for the Mavs to find the back of the net to take lead. The initial shot by Dere was deflected, landing at the feet of Lexi Newton who tapped it over to an open Mikayla Eccher who took advantage of the open net.
That goal would be the decision maker, giving the Mavs their second victory of the young season.

Leave it to Lila (Dere)
After a standout spring season, returning redshirt freshman Lila Dere wasted no time adding to her scoring total tallying three goals in the opening weekend. She netted two in the season opener, then converted on a PK, bringing her career total to 10 – just shy of entering the career leaderboard.

The Grand Junction local put up seven goals in her debut season, scoring in three consecutive games – two of which were two-goal games. Her efforts landed her on the All-RMAC First Team.

Shot Security
As a team the Mavericks, tallied seven goals over the weekend, taking 37 shots total nearly three times as many as their opponents who combined for 10 on the weekend. CMU took 18 shots on goal, limiting the opposing offense to just five strikes at the net.

The back line held strong, keeping the pressure off goalkeeper Chloe Dody who picked up two wins, making three saves on the weekend.

RMAC Preseason Poll
This season the Mavericks came in at No. 7 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Poll, moving up a spot from last season's poll, collecting 85 votes. Head Coach Megan Remec returns for the Fall season after leading the team to 5-4-1 record last season and a berth in the RMAC Tournament.

Colorado School of Mines garnered seven first-place votes to take home the top-spot, followed by UCCS and CSU Pueblo who each received three first-place votes.

Scouting the Opponents
No. 10 Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks
Riding a 13-game winning streak are the Nighthawks of Northwest Nazarene, who enter the weekend's contest with a 2-0 record after defeating Chaminade and College of Idaho last weekend in their respective home tournament. Both games were 1-0 decisions.

In 2019, NNU posted a 6-10-2 overall record finishing 7^th in the GNAC, going 3-7-2 against conference foes. During the spring season they made a complete turnaround, going undefeated for a 11-0 record. Their success earned recognition by both the conference, as they were voted 3^rd in the preseason poll, and No. 10 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll.

Senior midfielder is in the mix of the returners, notching seven assists and six goals for 19-points in the spring. This season she sank a goal in the final 20-seconds against College of Idaho to secure the win.

Alexis Montoya was flawless in the goal last season, going 10-0 with six shutouts and a 0.41-goals against average. This season she already has 11 saves and two shutouts under her belt.

Minot State Beavers
Coming out of the NSIC are the Beavers of Minot State who sport s 0-1 record thus far. They played fellow RMAC member Regis in their season opener, dropping that contest to the Rangers, 3-1.

Chloe Allen put her team on the board in the 52^nd minute of the that match, spoiling the Regis shutout. Tiffany Shennum was in on the assist.

The Beavers finished the spring season with a 5-4-0 record, and were voted 10^th in their conference's preseason poll. Midfielder Sofia Lewis and goalkeeper Maddie Kindred were tabbed players to watch.

Lewis returns as the program's all-time leading scorer with 42 goals and 15 assists under her belt thus far. Kindred transferred in and finished her initial season with a 5-1-0 record and a pair of shutouts.