GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's soccer tallied their first RMAC win of the season in convincing fashion, beating South Dakota Mines 4-1 in a match that the Mavericks controlled even more than the scoreline suggests.

Joey Joiner scored twice in the first half and Dimitrios Leonoglou and Moses Magens added second-half goals for the 24^th-ranked Mavs, who improve to 6-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the RMAC with the victory. Diego Chavez made one save and got the win in net for CMU.

The Mavericks outshot the Hardrockers 23-5 and placed 16 shots on goal. South Dakota Mines goalkeeper Daniel Freitas made 12 saves, including 10 in the first half alone, in a heroic effort for the visitors.

The opening 20 minutes was an absolute onslaught on the Maverick net for CMU with nothing to show for it. Freitas made saves to deny Alec Fronapfel, Fernando Morales, Leonoglou and Raymond Jackson as the Mavericks racked up 18 shots and nine corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.

The Mavs broke the ice when Freitas tripped up Raymond Jackson in the box to draw a penalty kick for CMU in the 28^th minute. Joey Joiner, who had only come onto the pitch two minutes earlier, stepped to the spot and kept his composure, sending Freitas diving while hitting the ball up the middle for his first goal of the season.

The Mavericks completely dominated the first half but were foiled on several occasions by Freitas, who set a career high with his 12 total stops. Matheus Lazzuri's 36^th-minute strike was tipped over the bar at full extension by the Hardrocker keeper, and Manuel Ponce Casas and Leo Mireles had shots saved in a 30-second span in the 39^th minute.

Freshman midfielder Lucas Doerzbacher also had a shot saved just before halftime, but this time the rebound fell to Ponce Casas. The sophomore forward passed to Joiner, who slotted the ball through traffic into the bottom left corner to double his daily and season total.

In the second half, Colorado Mesa was more content to pass out the clock while the Hardrockers were also better on the ball. The two teams were even 5-5 on second half shots after the lopsided 18-0 first half margin. South Dakota Mines got a goal back on its first shot attempt of the day when Hayden Jaramillo fired a hard, low shot past Chavez in the 49^th minute.

The Mavericks pushed the lead back to two on a thunderous strike from Dimitrios Leonoglou in the 55^th minute. With multiple Maverick attackers and Hardrocker defenders in the box, the ball was cleared out to the junior center back, who had loads of time to take a touch past a defender and hit a bullet into the right-hand side of the net. The goal was Leonoglou's second of the season and first since scoring just minutes into his Maverick career on a header in the season-opener against Texas A&M-International.

Colorado Mesa's fourth came in the 89^th minute, when Moses Magens had a headed tap-in off a wonderful run and cross from Moises Martinez. The goal is Magens' first of the season and second in his CMU career since transferring from Mount Vernon Nazarene.

Head coach Jon Fridal was able to empty his bench throughout the contest as a total of 26 Mavs saw game action on Sunday. Both Carlos Melendez and Konrad Buschbacher played in their first matches of 2023, Jose Canales and Stefanos Christodoulakis each played in their second and Connor Chilson played in his third. Canales made his first career collegiate start and logged a full 90 minutes at center back.

Next week, the Mavericks will hit the road to face Colorado School of Mines on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. before hosting MSU Denver next Sunday at noon.