COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado Mesa and UCCS men's soccer delivered a wild conclusion to a doubleheader at Mountain Lion Stadium, as the Mavericks took an early lead but a second-half comeback by the home team meant both teams left with a single point as the match finished in a 3-3 tie.

The No. 18 Mavericks scored three first-half goals and had a two-goal lead at halftime, but UCCS climbed back in the game with a pair of second-half goals. With the draw, Colorado Mesa is now 9-2-4 overall and still unbeaten in the RMAC with a 4-0-3 conference record. Their unbeaten streak now stands at 12 games.

It was a bit of a flipped script for Colorado Mesa, which has built a habit of coming from behind to tie or win games in the second half this season, including five games on their current unbeaten streak. CMU goalie Diego Chavez and UCCS goalie Soren Russell made four saves apiece.

The Mavericks couldn't have gotten out to a better start, scoring twice within the match's first 15 minutes. Matheus Lazzuri got CMU on the board in the 10^th minute, using a fantastic solo run to dribble past multiple sliding UCCS challenges, quickly cutting onto his right foot and curling a shot into the top right corner that left the keeper with no chance despite a leaping effort. It was the Brazilian midfielder's first goal of the season.

The Mavericks made it two just five minutes later when a failed clearance allowed Alec Fronapfel to flick a header on to Manuel Ponce Casas, who let the ball bounce once before striking it into the turf so it took a high hop over the goalie.

UCCS had answers, putting the ball in the net once but it was ruled out for offside. Off a free kick in the 31^st minute, Chavez made the save off the initial headed attempt from Cole Van Holland, but the ball pinballed around in the box and eventually made its way to the foot of Alex Andersson, who hit the ball low past Chavez at the near post.

The Mavericks responded just 15 seconds before halftime when Joey Joiner got the Mavericks' third. Moses Magens crossed to Joiner in a central position, and the veteran forward cut towards his left foot but hit the ball back across goal towards the near post.

The second half featured a multitude of scoring chances at both ends, but unfortunately for CMU, none of the Maverick attempts found the net while UCCS did enough to get back in the match. Chavez and Russell traded highlight-reel saves early in the second half and Dylan Hobson hit the post from distance off a free kick in the 76^th minute. After UCCS tied the score with 64^th and 79^th minute goals, the Mavs forced two more saves in the final five minutes but were unable to pull ahead again.

The tense and topsy-turvy game featured two yellow cards for CMU and five yellow cards plus a straight red card for UCCS, although the red came with just 35 seconds left in the match, so it didn't give the Mavs a meaningful numbers advantage for any length of time. UCCS outshot the Mavs 19-12 and took seven corner kicks compared to CMU's three.

The Mavericks will have to rebound quickly with No. 5 CSU Pueblo on deck this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The ThunderWolves are 11-3-1 but will enter Sunday's matchup with CMU having lost their last two games, against Fort Lewis 3-1 last Sunday and against Westminster 2-0 on Thursday.