LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's soccer fell behind early but responded quickly, defeating Colorado Christian for the second time this season, this time by a 3-1 score on the road in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest.

The Mavericks are now 9-2-3 overall and still unbeaten in the RMAC at 4-0-2. Colorado Mesa's current unbeaten streak is now at 11 games, the fourth-longest in program history.

Alec Fronapfel scored twice, first on a penalty kick less than 90 seconds after the Mavericks conceded and again in the 78^th minute to ice the victory. Manuel Ponce Casas scored what would hold up as the game winner in the 49^th minute, with Moises Martinez providing the assist.

Each goalkeeper made two saves, as Michel Pinoncely made two first-half saves for CCU while Diego Chavez made two second-half stops for the Mavericks. Colorado Christian played the final 38 minutes down a man after receiving a straight red card in the early stages of the second half, but the Mavs already held a 2-1 lead at that time.

Colorado Christian opened the scoring in phenomenal fashion, with Gabe Roloff surprising Chavez by racing to a loose ball and blasting a shot attempt from over 35 yards away on a half volley into the top right corner. The Mavericks responded right away, however, with a misclear from the CCU defense leading to Raymond Jackson getting tripped up by a backtracking Cougar defender. Just 87 seconds after going down 1-0, CMU had an opportunity to equalize from the spot, and Fronapfel sent the keeper the wrong way and buried it into the bottom right corner.

The Mavericks took the lead early in the second half, utilizing quick passing to get the ball to the top of the box, where Martinez played Ponce Casas through and allowed the sophomore to poke the ball past Pinoncely with his first touch. The Mavs almost scored again minutes later, lifting a long ball over the top for Ponce Casas, who had a step on the CCU defense when he was tripped up from behind without the ball. The referee immediately issued a red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

Fronapfel capped the scoring on a lightning-quick counterattack, poking the ball away to win back possession off a CCU goal-kick clearance and then making a run down the field. The ball found its way back to Fronapfel on a one-on-one opportunity against Pinoncely, and the redshirt senior kept his cool to slot the ball under the onrushing keeper to make it 3-1, CMU.

The Mavericks outshot CCU 14-5 overall and 5-3 in shots on goal. Fronapfel led the Mavs with four shot attempts while Ponce Casas, Dimitrios Leonoglou and Connor Chilson had two attempts each.

Colorado Mesa will wrap up the second half of its four-game RMAC road trip with two games next week. They will face UCCS Thursday and CSU Pueblo next Sunday.