GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa women's soccer is set to begin the most important stretch of its schedule, with first place in the RMAC on the line when CMU travels to Colorado Springs on Thursday night.

Two more shutout victories last week pushed the No. 6 Mavs' record to 11-0-1 overall with a 6-0-1 record in RMAC play. The Mavericks are level on conference points with UCCS and Regis, who played one another to a 2-2 draw last Sunday, but Regis has one conference loss while CMU and UCCS do not.

Colorado Mesa's showdown with UCCS will take place at 5 p.m. on Thursday night. Both teams will enter the match on 10-plus game unbeaten streaks. The Mavs will then head to Pueblo for a Sunday matinee match at noon.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa maintained its dominance over the RMAC schedule with two more shutout wins, topping Fort Lewis 2-0 and Western Colorado 5-0.

RECAPS: Fort Lewis | Western Colorado

The Mavericks got goals from Tatum Pfalmer and Mira Houck against the Skyhawks, then watched sophomore forward Kylie Wells go off against the Mountaineers with two goals plus an assist. Madison DeHerrera also had a goal and an assist against WCU while Sauvelyne Randel found the net for the ninth time this season.

Double Trouble
Colorado Mesa took two out of three RMAC weekly awards, with Kylie Wells winning the Offensive Player of the Week award and Keely Wieczorek grabbing Goalkeeper of the Week honors.

Player of the Week Release

Wells earned the first honor of her career with two goals and an assist against Western Colorado. Wells has 19 shots, nine shots on goal and three goals in CMU's last four matches.

Wieczorek won the RMAC's goalkeeper award for the third time and the first time since opening her career with back-to-back wins over the season's first two weeks on September 5 and September 12. Wieczorek made three saves against Fort Lewis and five against Western Colorado, tying a career high.

Standings Check
We are down to the last two-and-a-half weeks of the regular season, with each RMAC team having between four and five conference games remaining. The top eight teams in the 15-team RMAC standings will qualify for the conference tournament.
 

Team	RMAC Record	Pts
Colorado Mesa	6-0-1	19
UCCS	6-0-1	19
Regis	6-1-1	19
Colorado School of Mines	5-1-2	17
MSU Denver	4-3-1	13
Westminster	3-3-1	10
Fort Lewis	2-2-3	9
CSU Pueblo	2-2-3	9

 
Colorado Mesa's final five games of the RMAC season are all against teams currently in the conference's top eight – at UCCS, at CSU Pueblo, vs. Mines, vs. Regis and at Westminster. UCCS and Regis tied each other 2-2 last weekend, ensuring the three-way tie in points at the top with CMU heading into this week's games.

On a Run
At 11-0-1, Colorado Mesa will head into Thursday's showdown with UCCS tied for the longest unbeaten streak in program history at 12 games. The 2000 Mavericks team ripped off a 12-game winning streak from September 15-October 22 before a 3-1 loss to MSU Denver on October 27. That team's record was 13-3 after the streak was snapped, and the Mavs would finish 2000 at 14-5.
 

Longest Unbeaten Streaks in CMU WSOC Program History (no losses, including ties)
12 12	September 15, 2000 – October 22, 2000 (12-0-0) September 1, 2023 – current (11-0-1)
11	October 4, 1998 – November 15, 1998 (10-0-1)
9	October 3, 2021 – October 31, 2021 (9-0-0) August 31, 2012 – September 28, 2012 (7-0-2)

 
Dating back to last season, Colorado Mesa is unbeaten in its last 10 conference games (9-0-1). The Mavs won their last three conference games in 2022 by a combined score of 13-0 and are outscoring RMAC opponents 21-2 over the team's 6-0-1 start to the 2023 RMAC season. That 10-game conference streak matches a similar streak over the 1998 and 1999 RMAC seasons.
 

Longest RMAC Unbeaten Streaks in CMU WSOC Program History (no losses, including ties, conference games only)
10 10	October 21, 2022 – current (9-0-1) October 4, 1998 – September 19, 1999 (9-0-1)
9	September 15, 2000 – October 22, 2000 (9-0-0) October 3, 2021 – October 31, 2021 (9-0-0) October 21, 2011 – September 28, 2012 (6-0-3)

 
With a win or tie against No. 24 UCCS on Thursday, the Mavericks will establish program records for conference games and overall games. UCCS will be the first nationally ranked team that CMU has played on its current streak.

Across Division II, CMU is tied for the third-best winning percentage in the country at .958 (11-0-1), trailing only Catawba (12-0-0, 1.000) and Ashland (12-0-1, .962) and tied with Saint Rose. Colorado Mesa is one of 11 remaining Division II teams without a loss.

Ready, Aim, Fire
Colorado Mesa has been putting opposing goals under siege all season. The Mavericks lead the RMAC in shots per game (22.0), shots on goal per game (10.92) and goals per game (3.08). The Mavs rank second in total shots and total goals behind Colorado School of Mines, which has played two more matches than CMU.

Individually, the Mavs have four individuals in the conference's top seven in total shots – Abby Fotheringham (34), Sauvelyne Randel (33), Kylie Wells (32) and Mikayla Eccher (32). Among shots on goal, Fotheringham (22) ranks second in the RMAC while Randel (19) ranks fourth in the conference.

Ready to Play
Three Mavericks made their season debuts in the waning minutes of the Western Colorado game, with two of them stepping on a game field for the first time in their collegiate careers.

Freshmen Ariana Rawlings and Indigo Andresen made their college debuts while sophomore Talea Kuennen saw her first action of the 2023 season after featuring heavily as a freshman in 2022.

Rawlings, a forward from Farmington, Utah, played 12 minutes in the second half and recorded a shot on goal seven minutes after stepping on the field. Kuennen came on for Rawlings and played nine minutes. Andresen, a native of Bozeman, Montana, logged three minutes and ended the match on the pitch.

With Rawlings and Andresen now seeing action this season, every member of CMU's 2023 true freshman class has now played. None has featured more heavily than Keely Wieczorek, who took over the starting goalkeeper job and has started all 12 matches in net for the Mavs. She is the only Maverick with over 1,000 minutes logged so far this year.

Freshman defender Sarah Dunn has also appeared in all 12 matches, starting five, and has been a key member of the CMU back line that has allowed just four goals in 12 games. The other Maverick freshmen are midfielder Kylie Hoffman (five games, 123 minutes), defender Sienna Berumen-Baker (four games, one start, 114 minutes), defender Jada Lindquist (three games, 49 minutes) and defender Lilly Allen (two games, 17 minutes).

In the Polls
Despite two wins by a combined score of 7-0, Colorado Mesa dropped half a spot from being tied for fifth to No. 6 in the latest United Soccer Coaches national poll.

Ashland and Catawba are 1-2 in the poll for the third straight week, while Embry-Riddle rose to a season-high No. 3. Embry-Riddle is 8-0-3, but currently has the top-ranked strength of schedule in the country. Saint Rose fell to No. 4 after suffering its first draw of the season are now tied with the Mavs record-wise at 11-0-1. Hawaii-Hilo (9-0-1) rounds out the top five.

Colorado Mesa is the top-ranked team in the South Central Regional for the fifth straight week. The RMAC has two more nationally-ranked teams behind the Mavs with Colorado School of Mines at No. 16 and UCCS at No. 24. The Orediggers and Mountain Lions are second and third, respectively, in the regional rankings while Dallas Baptist (national No. 25) is fourth.

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 UCCS
Unbeaten in their last 10 matches, the UCCS Mountain Lions have rebounded from an 0-2-1 start to sit at 8-2-3 overall and earn a No. 24 national ranking in the most recent polls. They are 6-0-1 in conference, dropping points for the first time this season at Regis last Sunday.

The Mountain Lions have been on fire in the RMAC portion of the season, outscoring opponents 16-2 and not allowing a goal through their first six conference games. Colorado Mesa will be the fourth team ranked in the top-15 at the time of the game that UCCS has played this season. The Mountain Lions previously lost to then-No. 14 Hawaii Hilo (now No. 5) and beat then-No. 9 Point Loma and then-No. 15 Colorado School of Mines (now No. 16).

The Mines win was significant as it gave UCCS, who was picked second in the RMAC Preseason Poll, a head-to-head result over a Mines team that was picked first in the preseason. By contrast, the 24^th-ranked Mountain Lions will be the first ranked opponent that CMU will face this season, and the Mavericks are yet to face any of the RMAC's projected preseason top four.

UCCS's calling card is defense, as they have allowed just nine goals in 13 matches this season, fewer than any RMAC team except for CMU and Mines. Starting goalie Isabella Whitmore has a 0.75 goals-against average while making 42 saves in net, and the Mountain Lions have shutout their opponent seven times. Offensively, sophomore midfielder Emily Aguilar leads UCCS with five goals while redshirt junior Makayla Merlo is just behind with four. Sophomore Anna Vince and junior Fie Stenberg have four assists each, as UCCS is tied for second in the conference with CMU with 21 assists as team.

Head Coach J.B. Belzer is in his fourth season with UCCS, winning an RMAC regular season and conference tournament double in his second year. Belzer has compiled a 49-11-7 record entering this week's games with the Mountain Lions. Prior to UCCS, Belzer spent 24 years as the head coach at Regis, winning eight RMAC championships and six RMAC Coach of the Year awards while making the NCAA Tournament nine times.

The Mavs are 9-7-2 all-time vs. UCCS, but the Mountain Lions have a 2-1 edge over the respective tenures of UCCS Coach J.B. Belzer and CMU head coach Megan Remec. UCCS won in Grand Junction 3-1 last season, but the Mavs won in Colorado Springs 3-2 on their way to a regular-season RMAC title in 2021. Prior to that win, however, the Mavs lost four straight against UCCS from 2017-spring 2021 by a combined score of 15-0.  

About CSU Pueblo
The ThunderWolves of CSU Pueblo were picked eighth in the preseason RMAC Coaches Poll and are currently tied for seventh in the standings with a 2-2-3 RMAC record. The ThunderWolves are 4-3-5 overall.

CSU Pueblo has battled throughout the RMAC calendar, tying then-No. 15 Colorado School of Mines 1-1 back on September 24. The ThunderWolves have beaten Western Colorado and Black Hills State, but lost to MSU Denver and Regis. Pueblo had four common non-conference opponents with CMU this season, going 1-1-2 against the quartet of Newman, Cal State San Bernardino, Lubbock Christian and West Texas A&M (CMU went 4-0 against those teams, winning by a combined score of 14-2).

Cortney Cowles has been the star player for Pueblo in 2023, leading the team with five goals. Cowles leads CSU Pueblo and ranks tied for sixth in the RMAC with 12 points. She is eighth in the RMAC with 2.42 shots per game while teammate Ashley Bennett (two goals, one assist) ranks 12^th with 2.08 shots per game. Cameron Farthing has a team-high three assists, while in net, Nicole Genis has started every match and has a 0.93 goals-against average and a .796 save percentage.

Head Coach Sierra Cardenas has been at the helm in Pueblo since the 2017 season. Cardenas led the ThunderWolves to an RMAC Tournament Championship, the first in program history, during the COVID-shortened spring 2021 season. Prior to Pueblo, Cardenas coached at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado.

The Mavs hold a slim 20-17-5 lead in the all-time series with CSU Pueblo. The series has greatly benefitted the home team, as CMU is 13-5-3 against the ThunderWolves in Grand Junction but just 7-12-2 in Pueblo. Colorado Mesa's 4-1 win in 2022 broke a three-game losing streak against CSUP. Lila Dere scored twice in that game alongside Michaela Dangler and current Mav Sauvelyne Randel as the Mavs got four goals in the match's opening 23 minutes.