PUEBLO, Colo.— Freshman Logan Smith recorded his first career hat-trick as the nation's 17^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's lacrosse team extended its winning streak to six with a 10-6 victory over the host CSU Pueblo here at the ThunderWolves' Art & Lorraine Gonzales Stadium on Friday afternoon.
 
The Mavericks never trailed and improved to 11-3 overall and to a perfect 4-0 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play as they dominated the possession game winning 16 of the 20 face-offs while forcing the ThunderWolves (2-7, 1-3 RMAC) into 29 turnovers.
 
Smith, a product of Highlands Ranch High School, had all three of his goals during the middle quarters as the Mavs extended a 4-3 lead to 5-3 with his second goal of the game with just 39 seconds to go in the half.
 
The Mavericks then scored all four of the third-quarter goals to extend their lead to 9-3 before cruising to the victory and season-sweep of the ThunderWolves, a team the Mavs have now defeated all 16 they have faced.
 
In Friday's game, Maverick Coach Vince Smith started his nine "seniors" who will be recognized during Senior Day festivities prior to Sunday's home contest against Adams State in Grand Junction at Community Hospital Unity Field.  Redshirt sophomore goalie Nolan Hoffman also got the nod in net and made nine saves while facing 29 total shots.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavericks had eight different goal scorers as Blake Amiatu, who started for the first time in his career, scored just 1:06 into the contest to put the Mavs up 1-0.  Trey Corkin III and Jed Brummett then scored later in the first quarter before the ThunderWolves cut the deficit to 3-2.
 
Smith and CSU Pueblo's Trevor Thompson, who had two goals to lead the Pack, then exchanged goals before Smith's second tally doubled the Mavs advantage to two going into the intermission.
 
AJ Switzer, Logan Smith, Levi McCoy and Ethan Points then tallied markers for the Mavs in the third before freshman Luke McGahey scored his first career goal with 2:30 left to cap the Mavs' goal scoring.
 
Three goals in just 2:41 of third-quarter proved to be the difference.
 
Corkin III was also a standout on the defensive end as he claimed four ground balls while causing three turnovers.  The Mavs had 16 caused turnovers as a team as the Pack failed to clear their defensive zone on ten occasions.
 
National face-off percentage leader Dylan Checketts came off the bench and won 12 of his 15 face-offs while Jake Brummett was 4-for-5 at the "X".  Checketts also had four ground balls while Brummett scooped up three as did Shane Starbuck, Caden Hathaway, Hunter Holcomb and Drew Eickelman.
 
The Mavs dominated the shot totals, 52-29 and put 33 of their shots on target. 
 
However, ThunderWolf net-minder Ethan Ferrie was up to the challenge recording 23 saves to keep the game close.
 
The Mavs also had a 34-23 advantage in ground balls.
 
Friday's game was clean as the teams drew just three 30-second penalties throughout after combining for 14 just 12 days earlier during CMU's 22-6 home win over the Pack.
 
A win in Sunday's contest against Adams State (1-7, 0-4 RMAC) would allow the Mavericks to clinch at least a share of the RMAC title with one game remaining.  The Mavericks could also clinch it outright with a win combined with a Westminster loss at CSU Pueblo on Sunday.
 
The Mavericks will play at Westminster (7-3, 3-1 RMAC) to close out the regular season on Saturday, Apr. 30 in Salt Lake City, Utah.