GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Coming off their strongest offensive performance of the young season, Colorado Mesa men's soccer will begin their home schedule in the Colorado Mesa Kickoff Weekend presented by Doubletree by Hilton.

After defeating Western Oregon 6-1 last Saturday, CMU faces two more Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponents in Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser.

As part of the kickoff weekend, RMAC foe Fort Lewis will also be in town, playing CMU's opponents in reverse order. On Thursday, Fort Lewis will play Simon Fraser at 4 p.m., followed by the Mavericks taking on MSUB at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, the two GNAC schools will flip, with Fort Lewis playing MSUB at 4 p.m. before CMU takes on Simon Fraser at 7 p.m.

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

Looking Back
The Mavericks started strong and piled on late in a 6-1 win against Western Oregon, a first-year program playing in just its third official match. Six different Mavericks scored a goal, including redshirt senior Daisuke Takanaka and redshirt sophomore Alvaro Parra, who each had both a goal and an assist.

RECAP: Western Oregon

Manuel Ponce Casas, Colton Shafer, Isa Trujillo and Tallyn Bronson also found the net for CMU, which comfortably outshot Western Oregon 22-4.

Goal Per Game
While plenty of his teammates joined him on the scoresheet against Western Oregon, Manuel Ponce Casas continued his streak of scoring in every collegiate match he's ever played in.

Ponce Casas had two of CMU's three goals on the season entering the Western Oregon match, including the game-winner against Texas A&M International. His two-goal performance last week led to the RMAC naming him the Offensive Player of the Week for the week of August 22-28, becoming the first CMU freshman to achieve that honor since 2015.

He opened the scoring against Western Oregon in the 28^th minute, kickstarting momentum for a Mavericks team that would score two more times before halftime. Ponce Casas finished the match with four shots, which were all on goal. He started the match incredibly hot, as his other three shots on target all came in the match's first 12 minutes.

Ponce Casas has had pinpoint accuracy so far this season, placing 10 of his 11 shots on target. His 3.33 shots on goal per game leads the RMAC and is tied for the national lead. His 3.67 shots per game also lead the RMAC. The freshman is tied for second in the conference with his three goals.

Spreading the Wealth
Colorado Mesa has a deep roster this season, and coach Jon Fridal has had opportunities to flex it in the season's first three games. The Mavericks have had 25 outfield players and two goalkeepers appear in a match this season.

The Mavs have had seven different goal scorers in the season's first three games and have also had seven different players tally an assist. Eleven players have recorded multiple shots this season while 15 different players have put a shot on target.

Milestone Watch
The win over WOU was the 18^th of goalkeeper Connor Durant's career, tying Josh Tanaglia for third all-time with 18 wins. Durant ranks third all-time in CMU history with 83 saves.

Durant is behind Micah Conrads in both categories. Conrads, who played at CMU from 2011-2014, accumulated 30 wins and 190 saves in his career.

Conference Leaderboards
Colorado Mesa ranks second in the RMAC with nine goals scored despite only taking the fifth-most shots (45).

The Mavericks rank fourth with a .750 save percentage and are tied for second by making four saves per game.
 
In the Polls
As a result of their loss to then-No. 22 Midwestern State, the Mavericks dropped nine spots to No. 18 in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll from September 6.
CSU Pueblo is the other RMAC team, ranked at No. 25. Fellow South Central teams Midwestern State and West Texas A&M are at No. 6 and No. 14, respectively.

Colorado Mesa was picked to win the conference in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, claiming eight of 11 first place votes, followed by Colorado School of Mines and CSU Pueblo.

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 Montana State Billings
Montana State Billings was picked to finish sixth in the GNAC preseason poll. They have started the season 0-2, losing 1-0 to CSU Pueblo and 3-0 to UCCS.

The Yellowjackets are a team in transition. They lost their top four points scorers from last season, including Paul Cuevas, who is now on the coaching staff, as well as defender and captain Luca Battistotti.

Junior midfielder Jeremie Briquet is MSUB's top returning points scorer and has been their main offensive threat this season, tallying five of the 13 shots the Yellowjackets have fired in the opening two matches.

The Yellowjackets also have an interim head coach in Aaron Champenoy. While Champenoy is in his first season with MSUB, he has head coaching experience with the University of Saint Thomas (Division III) and Hastings College, where he was the NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2016 with an unbeaten record of 24-0-1.

Champenoy also has recent Colorado ties, as he served as the athletic director of Durango High School and the assistant athletic director of external relations for RMAC school Fort Lewis prior to returning to coaching with MSUB.

About Simon Fraser
Simon Fraser will make some history in Grand Junction this week, when their men's soccer team will play SFU's first event with their brand-new university nickname, the Red Leafs. Simon Fraser had gone without a nickname since August 2020, when they retired a previous nickname.

What will not change with the new name is the successful history Canada's only NCAA school has had in men's soccer. Simon Fraser won seven GNAC championships between 2010-2018, a run that included back-to-back trips to the Final Four in 2012 and 2013.

Simon Fraser was picked to win the GNAC in that conference's preseason poll, earning five of seven first-place votes. The Red Leafs have started strong, losing 1-0 to No. 1 Cal State LA but rebounding with a 2-0 win over Sonoma State and a 1-0 win over Chico State.

Junior forward Devin O'Hea has scored two of SFU's three goals, one in each of the last two games. Both goals were assisted on by junior defender Nico Papakyriakopoulos. Senior Conrad Cheng has fired three shots on goal this season and received all-conference recognition last year.

Clint Schneider is in his seventh season leading Simon Fraser, not including the 2020 season which SFU was forced to completely sit out due to COVID-19 border closures. Schneider led the Red Leafs to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 2016-2018.

Series Histories
Colorado Mesa has a career 1-2-1 record against Montana State Billings, but the Mavericks got their first win last season, a 2-1 victory on September 9 in a neutral-site game played in Nampa, Idaho. Chris Boyd scored both goals for the Mavs on that occasion, including the game-winner in the 86^th minute.

The only previous time MSUB has come to Grand Junction was in August 2007, when the Yellowjackets won 2-0.

Simon Fraser will no doubt have revenge on their minds for Saturday's showdown, as Colorado Mesa beat them 5-0 last season in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Ethan Anderson had two of the five goals for CMU.

That match took place in Wichita Falls, Tex., so this will be Simon Fraser's first visit to Grand Junction.