GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Led by standout performances from the three Brummett brothers, four total hat-tricks and a suffocating defensive effort, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's lacrosse team dominated visiting CSU Pueblo, 22-6, in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action on Sunday afternoon at Community Hospital Unity Field.
 
The nation's 18^th-ranked Mavericks tripled up the ThunderWolves in total shots, 69-23, and had a monster 63-22 advantage in ground balls while improving to 8-3 overall (3-0 RMAC) with what was their tenth consecutive RMAC regular season victory over the past three seasons.
 
The ThunderWolves fell to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
 
Jed Brummett and AJ Switzer led the Mavs offensively with four goals apiece.  Freshman JJ Brummett and James Steinke also added three each. 
 
Meanwhile, Jake Brummett, the eldest of the brothers from Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, won 15 of his 16 face-offs while claiming a season-high 15 ground balls.  The Mavs won 27 of the 32 draws as a team as starter Dylan Checketts went 9-for-13 while Mike Edwards won all three of his face-offs with the game well in hand down the stretch.

Jed Brummett's goal total was a season-high while Switzer now has a conference-leading 26 goals this season, largely behind five hat-tricks and three 4-goal games. 
 
Sunday's hat-trick was the second of JJ Brummett's season and career. 
 
Steinke has now scored in all 11 of the Mavs' games, scoring two or more times in each of the last six.
 
On Sunday, the Mavericks forced the ThunderWolves into 25 turnovers and held them to just 23 total shots, only 11 of which were on frame.  The Pack also failed to clear ten times as CMU held the RMAC's leading overall point scorer and reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week Aryan Krause without a shot and to just one assist.  Krause had six goals and 13 points in CSU-Pueblo's 18-5 win over Adams State in their last contest on Apr. 2.
 
RMAC Defensive Player of the Week Ethan Ferrie did make 14 saves for the ThunderWolves in net on Sunday but surrendered all 22 goals as the Mavs peppered him with shots all afternoon.
 
After Switzer and Caden Hathaway scored goals just 24 seconds apart to open the scoring, the Mavs' offense was a bit stagnant for much of the opening quarter.  However, the defense forced eight Pack turnovers in each of the first two frames as the offense started to roll in the final 5 ½ minutes of the opening half.  The Mavs scored five goals in that span as Jed Brummett and Drew Eickelman both had back-to-back goal stretches during that run that put the Mavs up 10-2 at the half.
 
Steinke and CSU Pueblo's Logan Naves then exchanged goals to open the third before the Mavs went on another 4-0 run to build a 15-3 lead with 2:45 to go in the third. 
 
The ThunderWolves did take advantage of a 2-minute un-releasable penalty to score two man-up goals to end the third quarter but could not convert the penalty further in the fourth as CMU reserve Weston Keller scored just after Jed Brummett's penalty expired to stop the visitors' momentum.
 
The Mavs then went on to score the final the final six goals of the game in a span of just 4:26 to put the game away as many of the CMU bench players saw out the victory.
 
The teams were flagged for a combined 14 penalties in what was a hard-hitting affair.  The Mavs were 0-for-7 on extra man opportunities but were impressive in the clearing game, successfully moving the ball forward on 19 of 20 attempts while dominating overall possession with their success on face-offs and in total ground balls.
 
Steinke added six ground balls in support of Jake Brummett while Trey Corkin III added another five along with two caused turnovers.  Jake Eickelman had four caused turnovers to lead the Mavs in that defensive category.
 
Freshman Calvin Doucette made his first career start in net and made two saves in the first half to collect the win while Nolan Hoffman and Mac Bayless combined for three other saves in the second half.
 
Sergio Pelayo also had a solid 4-point effort with a goal and three assists as 11 different Maverick scored, including eight in the first half alone.
 
The Mavs are now 15-0 all-time against the ThunderWolves and have scored 18 or more goals against them in each of the last nine meetings.
 
Winners of three straight overall and now 3-0 at home, the Mavericks now begin a 3-game road trip playing at Quincy in Illinois on Thursday (Apr. 14) before taking on Rockhurst in Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday (Apr. 16).  They then resume RMAC play with a re-match against the ThunderWolves on Friday, Apr. 22. 
 
The ThunderWolves will be off until that re-match in Pueblo.