GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa took care of business Friday night as the Mavericks coasted to a Senior Night victory and put themselves on the verge of a possible RMAC regular season title this Sunday. The Mavs will clinch the RMAC crown with either a win or a tie against Fort Lewis this Sunday.
To get there, the Mavericks scored twice in each half in a 4-0 win over Adams State, highlighted by
Joao Pedro Moraes's superb bicycle kick goal. The win, Colorado Mesa's 10
th of the season, keeps CMU unbeaten in the RMAC with a conference record of 5-0-4 and an overall record of 10-2-5.
More importantly, alongside other results like CSU Pueblo's Thursday night loss to Regis and Fort Lewis and Westminster's tie Friday night in Salt Lake City, the No. 17 Mavericks will enter the final day of the RMAC regular season in first place in the conference standings with 19 points. The Mavs will welcome No. 23 Fort Lewis, who is one point behind, to Grand Junction this Sunday at noon for what is likely a winner-take-all match for the RMAC regular season championship.
But while championships will be decided on Sunday, seniors were celebrated Friday. The Mavericks honored 11 players pregame
and all 11 logged minutes in Friday's win.
The Mavericks were attacking and aggressive from the start, finding the net on a Felipe Busellini header just two minutes in that was called back for offside. Despite consistent offensive pressure, it took until the 25th minute for CMU to officially get on the scoreboard, when Moses Magens drew a foul inside the penalty box to give the Mavs a spot kick. Fernando Morales sent the goalkeeper the wrong way for his eighth goal of the season and the Mavs were up, 1-0.
Six minutes later came the highlight of the night, if not the entire season, from Joao Pedro Moraes.
Thanks to a softening touch from Manuel Ponce Casas, Moraes popped the ball up to himself inside the penalty area and unleashed a bicycle kick into the bottom right corner. Fans and players alike were frozen in a moment of shock before erupting into a frenzy. Unsatisfied with only being upside-down to score, Moraes punctuated the goal celebration with a cartwheel as he ran toward his jubilant teammates on the bench.
With that, the floodgates were open. The Mavericks outshot Adams State 37-6 and placed 11 shots on goal to the Grizzlies' one. The Mavs had a staggering 15-0 edge in corner kicks throughout the match and saw 28 different players step on the pitch.
In the second half, two of CMU's outgoing seniors linked up, with Alec Fronapfel passing to Joey Joiner on the Mavs' third goal. The fourth goal was the exclamation point on a night full of fireworks from the Maverick offense, as three players utilized a touch apiece to put the ball in the net.
Forward Moses Magens played through left back Diego Medina on an inverted run towards the box. Medina hit a low cross first time towards the net, where an onrushing Ponce Casas slid to meet the ball with the top of his boot to put it away from close range.
Individually, senior Carlos Melendez appeared in a match for the second time this year, logging a season-high 19 minutes alongside fellow Senior Night honoree Stevie Koon. Konrad Buschbacher also saw the pitch for the second time this season, grabbing 18 second-half minutes, while redshirt sophomore Joel Harmon made his collegiate debut and played 14 minutes with two shots. Freshman Landon Huebner set a new career high with 27 minutes played in his fourth collegiate game.
With an important match Sunday and the goal of a lengthy postseason ahead, some of CMU's usual contributors received some much-needed minutes off, with Dimitrios Leonoglou (45 minutes), Alec Fronapfel (39 minutes), Joey Joiner (39 minutes), Matheus Lazzuri (39 minutes), Raymond Jackson (35 minutes) and Lluis Fabregat (35 minutes) among those with lighter-than-normal workloads on Friday.
The Mavericks and Skyhawks are set to kick off at noon on Sunday. That match will be followed by the women's soccer Senior Day and home finale against Regis.
