GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – After getting all they could handle in a pair of home matches this past week, the nationally-ranked CMU women's soccer program will look to solidify itself for the season's stretch run with two more games against Western Slope rivals.
The Mavericks allowed just their third and fourth goals of the season in a 2-1 win over Colorado Christian and a 1-1 draw with MSU Denver, but CMU remains the only undefeated team in the RMAC at 9-0-1 overall with a 4-0-1 record in conference play.
Looking ahead, the Mavs will travel to Fort Lewis to face the Skyhawks at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday before returning home to battle Western Colorado on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Community Hospital Unity Field. Those will be CMU's final two games before an 11-day stretch that will see the Mavericks battle conference front-runners UCCS, Colorado School of Mines and Regis.
Looking Back
Colorado Mesa beat Colorado Christian 2-1 to begin the season with its ninth straight win before tying MSU Denver 1-1, the first match that CMU has failed to win so far in 2023.
RECAPS:
Colorado Christian |
MSU Denver
Sauvelyne Randel led the win against CCU by scoring her eighth goal of the season and then assisting
Mira Houck to put the Mavs up 2-0.
Kylie Wells delivered a fantastic volley to tie the score against the Roadrunners after MSU Denver became just the second team this season to score first against the Mavericks.
Pink Out
Sunday's home game will be a Breast Cancer Awareness Game for the CMU program. The Mavericks will wear pink warm-up shirts like they have for the entire month of October. The program will be selling pink CMU soccer shirts and 50/50 raffle tickets during the first half of Sunday's game, with 50% of the raffle proceeds going to the winner and 50% going to the Susan G. Komen foundation.
Shot After Shot
Kylie Wells had a breakout week as a key member of the Maverick attack and led the RMAC with 12 shots over the last week of play.
Wells, a sophomore forward and Fruita Monument graduate, recorded six shots against both CCU and MSU Denver. She led the team in both matches and co-led the team with three shots on goal against CCU. For the season, Wells ranks fourth on the team and seventh in the RMAC with 25 shots and tied for fourth on the team with eight shots on goal.
With her goal against MSU Denver, Wells is on the board for 2023 after tallying one goal and two assists as a freshman in 2022. She has appeared in all 10 matches for CMU, starting seven and playing for 45 or more minutes in each of CMU's past eight games.
Unbeatens
Despite Sunday's tie that snapped a nine-game winning streak, the Mavericks are still unbeaten and currently have a 10-game unbeaten streak, which is the third-longest in program history. The results against Colorado Christian and MSU Denver ensured that this year's Maverick team passed the record for the longest unbeaten streak to open a season in program history, passing the 2012 team that started 7-0-2 before suffering their first loss.
Longest Unbeaten Streaks in CMU WSOC Program History
(no losses, including ties) |
| 12 |
September 15, 2000 – October 22, 2000 (12-0-0) |
| 11 |
October 4, 1998 – November 15, 1998 (10-0-1) |
| 10 |
September 1, 2023 – current (9-0-1) |
9
|
October 3, 2021 – October 31, 2021 (9-0-0)
August 31, 2012 – September 28, 2012 (7-0-2) |
If Colorado Mesa gets through this week's two matches without losing, they will match the 2000 team which currently holds the program record for longest winning streak and unbeaten streak with a 12-0-0 stretch during September and October of 2000.
In terms of Division II, CMU's tie last Sunday means there are now only two teams with a 1.000 winning percentage – No. 2 Catawba (10-0-0) and No. 3 Saint Rose (11-0-0). The Mavericks rank fourth in Division II with their .950 winning percentage (9-0-1). A total of 14 Division II teams, including CMU, do not have a loss yet this season.
Wide Margins
Colorado Mesa has been statistically dominating most of the games it has played in, leading to some wide disparities in the season stats.
The Mavs have outscored opponents 30-4 through 10 games in 2023. CMU's average of three goals per game is tied for the highest in the RMAC with Regis (who has 36 goals in 12 matches) and tied for ninth with Regis and two other teams across Division II. Colorado's Mesa goals-against average of 0.40 leads the conference and ranks 12
th in Division II.
The Mavericks have compiled 18 assists this season while allowing only two assists by opponents. Six of those have come from
Haley Klasner, who became the school's all-time career assist leader earlier this season. Klasner has as many or more assists than four individual RMAC programs.
Colorado Mesa has outshot opponents 215-53 and are outpacing opponents 104-25 in shots on goal. The Mavs have also taken 63 corner kicks while only needing to defend against 23 corner kicks.
CMU's scoring margin of +26 (30 goals scored – 4 goals allowed) is the widest in the RMAC ahead of Colorado School of Mines (+25) and Regis (+21).
Keeper Update
True freshman goalkeeper
Keely Wieczorek has excelled in net this season for the Mavericks. Wieczorek made a career-high five saves to keep the score tied at 1-1 in last Sunday's match, the most saves she has needed to make since she made four in her collegiate debut in the season-opener against Lubbock Christian.
Wieczorek's goals-against average of 0.43 is the second lowest in the RMAC behind Fort Lewis's Riley Bravin and ranks 15
th in Division II. Wieczorek has never allowed her GAA mark to rise above 0.5 in her career. Wieczorek's save percentage of .840 is tied for third in the RMAC.
MSU Denver's 11 shots are tied with Lubbock Christian for the second most by any CMU opponent this season, one behind Angelo State's 12. Between MSU Denver's performance and Colorado Christian's six shots, two of the four instances all season where the Mavericks have allowed five or more shots came in this past week.
In the Polls
After falling from the ranks of having a perfect winning percentage, Colorado Mesa fell back to a T-5 ranking in the United Soccer Coaches national poll. The Mavericks were also ranked T-5 three weeks ago but improved to No. 5 and No. 4 in subsequent polls over the last two weeks.
The Mavs trail Ashland, Catawba and Saint Rose, who make up the nation's top three for the fourth consecutive poll. Colorado Mesa has fallen behind new No. 4 Embry-Riddle (7-0-3) and is tied for fifth with Hawaii-Hilo (8-0-1).
It is the fourth consecutive week that Colorado Mesa has had at least a share of a top-five ranking and just the fifth time in school history that the Mavericks have been ranked that high (joining the 1999 preseason rankings when the Mavs were also T-5).
Colorado Mesa is the top-ranked team in the South Central Regional for the fourth straight week. Dallas Baptist (national No. 13) is second while Colorado School of Mines (national No. 18) is third. UCCS and Regis, who are both receiving votes nationally, take fourth and fifth in the South Central rankings.
The Mavericks will face UCCS on the road and Mines and Regis at home within the next three weeks. Texas Woman's, MSU Denver, St. Mary's, St. Edward's and Fort Lewis rank 6-10 in this week's regional rankings.
The Mavericks have changed their fortunes and outlook quickly, as CMU was picked just sixth in the RMAC Coaches Preseason Poll. Colorado School of Mines led the way with 131 points and nine first-place votes. UCCS, Regis and Westminster were picked second through fourth and garnered one first-place vote apiece. MSU Denver edged out the Mavericks for fifth while Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo rounded out the top eight.
About Fort Lewis
Picked seventh in the RMAC preseason poll, Fort Lewis is having a solid season as the Skyhawks are 5-1-5 and ranked 10
th in the South Central regional rankings.
Fort Lewis has perhaps played up and played down to opponents at times across their five ties, which include on the road at No. 16 Colorado School of Mines and against 5-2-2 Chaminade at a neutral site but also include Adams State at home and 1-7-4 Eastern New Mexico. In conference play, the Skyhawks are 1-1-3, having beat New Mexico Highlands 6-0 and fallen to UCCS 3-0.
Colorado Mesa played two games in Durango earlier this season, and the Mavericks and Skyhawks combined to go 4-0 against Angelo State and West Texas A&M, the preseason second and third-place teams in the Lone Star Conference, on September 14 and 16. Fort Lewis defeated West Texas A&M 2-0 and Angelo State 1-0 (while CMU beat those opponents 2-1 and 2-0, respectively).
Senior forward Aubrey Swindle is the Skyhawks' leading scorer with three goals and three assists and leads the team with 19 shots and 15 shots on goal. Freshman Haley Stafford also has three assists, and both her and Swindle tallied a goal plus an assist in the 6-0 win over Highlands. Freshman Ashlyn Salas and junior Anika Scherer have two goals apiece.
The Skyhawks have heavily rotated two goalkeepers throughout the season, as senior Riley Bravin has appeared in all matches and has made 10 starts, but usually plays just the first half while fellow senior Katlyn Rosenbaum comes in for the second half. Bravin has allowed only two goals against 15 saves in 548 minutes while Rosenbaum has let in five goals while making 14 saves in 441 minutes.
Head Coach Damian Clarke is in his 12
th year at Fort Lewis, with a career record of 134-69-29 entering the 2023 season. His Fort Lewis tenure has been broken up into two stints, as he left in 2013 for a four-year stint as the head coach at Midwestern State before returning to Durango. Clarke has coached teams to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, with one regional title in 2010. Clarke played for the Fort Lewis men's team from 1994-1998.
The Mavericks are 17-20-7 all-time against Fort Lewis. Colorado Mesa has closed the gap in recent years, winning the last three matchups, all by shutout.
About Western Colorado
Picked ninth in the preseason RMAC poll, Western Colorado is currently 1-8-2 during the 2023 season, with a 1-4 mark in conference play. The Mountaineers got their only win over New Mexico Highlands by a 3-1 score on October 1, and fell 3-0 to CSU Pueblo and 4-0 to No. 16 Colorado School of Mines last week. In nonconference play, WCU tied Mary and Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Graduate student Caileen Sienknecht leads the team with three goals and is currently the only Mountaineer to score more than once. Sienknecht, an All-RMAC Honorable Mention player last season, has played in 68 games during her Mountaineer career and has accumulated nine goals. Sophomores Reece Mercer and Natsuki Murakami have one goal and one assist each.
Senior goalkeeper Mei Hayashizaki has started all 11 matches for WCU. Hayashizaki ranks third in the RMAC with 53 total saves but has allowed 20 goals for a 2.00 goals-against average and a .726 save percentage. Murakami and Hayashizaki are both new additions to the WCU roster who hail from Japan.
Sophomore goalkeeper Aubree Orosco, who made 14 starts as a true freshman in 2022, has been limited to two 45-minute appearances against UCCS and Adams State, in which she has allowed one goal and made six saves.
Head Coach Amanda Raso has been in charge at WCU since 2020. The Mountaineers finished 6-10-2 last season, the program's most wins in a season since 2016. Prior to her time at Western, Raso was a goalkeeping coach at Division I North Dakota and an assistant coach at Fort Lewis from 2015-17, where she also played during the early 2010's.
The Mavericks are 11-2-2 all-time against Western Colorado and are currently riding a nine-game winning streak. All of Western's results came in between 2013-15. The Mavericks have held WCU scoreless in each of their past five meetings and have outscored the Mountaineers 11-0 over the last three meetings.
Coach's Corner
Mavericks head coach
Megan Remec is in her fourth season at the helm of the CMU program.
In her debut campaign, played in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Remec led the Mavericks to a winning 5-4-1 record and to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2017.
In her first full season in fall 2021, CMU finished 14-4 with a 10-2 RMAC record, winning the program's first regular-season RMAC title since 2000. At the conclusion of the 2021 season, Remec was named the RMAC Coach of the Year, becoming just the second individual Colorado Mesa coach to win that honor and the first since that same 2000 season.
Prior to CMU, Remec spent five seasons as an assistant coach at RMAC rival MSU Denver and was also an assistant coach at Elmhurst College (Division III) in Illinois.
