GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa men's soccer program earned a split on their first weekend of the season ahead of a matchup with a brand-new program in Western Oregon.

The No. 9 Mavericks dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to No. 22 Midwestern State before rebounding for a 1-0 win over Texas A&M International. The Mavs got two of their three goals for the week from true freshman Manuel Ponce Casas.

Up next, CMU travels to Salt Lake City for its third and final road match prior to their home openers next weekend, taking on Western Oregon on the campus of Westminster College on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Wolves are a brand-new program in their first year of competitive existence.

The game can be livestreamed on the RMAC Network. Live stats will also be available online.

Looking Back
In a showdown with projected Lone Star Conference champions Midwestern State, the Mavericks scored the first and the last goals of the game but gave up three goals in between in a 3-2 loss. Joey Joiner found the net in the second minute and Manuel Ponce Casas pulled one back for CMU with less than a minute to play.

RECAPS: Midwestern State | Texas A&M International

Against Texas A&M International, Casas found the net again in the 35^th minute and Connor Durant made a career-high eight saves to preserve a clean sheet for the Mavericks.

Strong Start
It's pretty hard to start your collegiate career any better than freshman forward Manuel Ponce Casas did this past week.

Not only did Ponce Casas get on the scoresheet in each of his first two collegiate matches, he was also honored as the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week by the conference office.

Ponce Casas became the first CMU player to win conference Offensive Player of the Week honors since Fernando Morales last year. Prior to Morales, no CMU player had taken home the award since 2018.

Ponce Casas is also the first CMU freshman to win any Player of the Week award since goalkeeper Bailey Guarneri and defender James McGhee each earned honors during the 2015 season.

Shot Stopper
Connor Durant had an incredible first season in net for the Mavericks in 2021, earning first-team All-American status, ranking second in the nation with a 0.57 goals-against average and being named the RMAC Goalkeeper of the Year. But Durant still found a way to make history against Texas A&M International.

After conceding three goals for the first time in his career against Midwestern State, Durant made up for it and then some by recording an eight-save shutout to preserve the 1-0 win on Saturday. The eight saves were a career-high for Durant, who had previously stopped seven shots in a game on three occasions, including against Texas A&M International in 2021.

The shutout was the 11^th of Durant's career, which ranks fourth all-time in CMU history. Durant trails Brendan Brown by two for third place, but he passed Brown in two other categories last week.

With his eight-save performance plus two saves against Midwestern State, Durant moved to 81 saves in his career, passing Brown for fourth all-time in CMU history. Durant has a while to go to catch the top three, with third-place Micah Conrads sitting at 190 saves.

The win was the 17^th of Durant's career, passing Brown's 16 for fourth place all-time. With one more win, Durant will tie Josh Tanaglia for third all-time with 18 wins.

Conference Leaderboards
Colorado Mesa taken 23 shots and put 15 on target, leading the conference with 7.5 shots on goal per game. The Mavs are also tied for second in the RMAC with five saves per game.

The Mavericks have not been whistled for offside through their first two matches. Every other RMAC team has been called for offside two or more times.

Individually, Manuel Ponce Casas is tied for second in the league with seven shots and leads the RMAC with six shots on goal.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa was picked to win the conference in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, claiming eight of 11 first place votes. The Mavs also came in at No. 9 in the inaugural United Soccer Coaches Poll, tops among three RMAC teams to earn a national ranking.

Colorado School of Mines was picked second in the RMAC Poll and ranks No. 20 nationally, while CSU Pueblo is ranked third in the conference and No. 24 in the nation.

Coach's Corner
Mavericks head coach Jon Fridal is in his third season in charge at CMU, boasting a .783 winning percentage from the first two seasons.

In his first year, played in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mavs went 6-1-1, including 5-0-1 in conference play, as Fridal took home RMAC Coach of the Year honors, becoming the second coach in the history of the program to do so.

In his first full campaign in the fall of 2021, Fridal led the Mavericks to a 16-4-2 record, a second-place RMAC regular-season finish, an RMAC Tournament title and a win in the NCAA Tournament.

Along with assistant coach Brandon Bautista, Fridal was honored as the United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional Staff of the Year in 2021.

About Western Oregon
The Western Oregon men's soccer program is in their first year of existence and have gone 1-1 in their first two matches. Head coach Stan Rodrigues had served as an assistant at Cal State Dominguez Hills since 2019 before being tasked with building the Wolves' program.

Rodrigues has experience as the inaugural head coach of a program at the NAIA level with Eastern Oregon from 2015. After two seasons with EOU, Rodrigues coached at the junior college level with Northwest College in 2017, where he won Coach of the Year, and then in the RMAC with Adams State in 2018. The Grizzles went 1-15-2 in Rodrigues' one season in charge.

To build a program from scratch, Rodrigues will be reliant on several junior college transfers, including Highline CC transfer Jesus Jeronimo Gotoo and Taft College transfer Enrique Gomez, who will serve as WOU's inaugural captains.

Bend, Ore. freshman Alex Grignon scored the first goal in program history which held up as the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Hawaii Pacific. Goalkeeper and Pima CC transfer Juan Suarez earned a clean sheet in his first match in Western Oregon's goal.

The Wolves are 0-1 against the RMAC, losing by a 2-0 score to Westminster on Thursday. The match between the Mavs and Wolves will take place on Westminster's campus.

Series Histories
Colorado Mesa and Western Oregon have never faced one another.

The Mavericks defeated Adams State 3-0 on Oct. 27, 2018 when current WOU head coach Steve Rodrigues was in charge of the Grizzlies.