GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa won the second half of its first game to secure a much-needed point, then dominated its second game from start to finish to bank another win.

Off to a 1-0-1 start in RMAC play, the Mavericks will face a massive test in Colorado School of Mines on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. before returning home to play MSU Denver on Sunday at noon.

Mavericks and Roadrunners will clash in a soccer doubleheader on Sunday, with the men playing first and the women's teams facing one another at 3 p.m.

Looking Back
The Mavs opened the RMAC season with a win and a tie, completing a furious comeback to tie Regis 3-3 before beating South Dakota Mines 4-1.

RECAPS: Regis | South Dakota Mines

Playing Regis for the second time in as many weeks (although this time it counted as a conference game), the Mavericks found themselves down 3-0 at halftime but rallied with goals in the 50^th, 88^th and 89th minutes for a hard-earned point. Fernando Morales scored twice, including the equalizer, while Alec Fronapfel assisted on the game-tying goal and scored a penalty kick to make it 3-2.

On Sunday, CMU outshot the Hardrockers 23-5 and forced a career-high 12 saves from South Dakota Mines goalie Daniel Freitas in a dominant 4-1 win. Joey Joiner scored twice, including on a penalty kick, while Dimitrios Leonoglou and Moses Magens added insurance goals late.

Comeback Kings
The conference opener against Regis was the ultimate tale of two halves, as the Mavericks were buried to go down 3-0 within the match's first half hour but completely dominated the second half to rally for the tie.

After halftime on Friday against the Rangers, the Mavericks outshot Regis 13-5, with eight of those shots going on target. Colorado Mesa also generated five corner kicks in the match while holding Regis without one.

Despite trailing by three at the half and by two with just three minutes to play, the extended pressure that CMU put Regis under in the second half paid off when Joey Joiner drew a penalty kick that Alec Fronapfel converted and a seldom-seen delay of game foul on the opposing goalie gave CMU an indirect free kick from 12 yards out where Fronapfel passed to Fernando Morales to even the score with 34 seconds to play.

Having a net positive second half has been nothing new for this year's Maverick team. Of Colorado Mesa's 21 total goals this season, 15 have come after halftime. Prior to the win over South Dakota Mines in which they led wire-to-wire, the Mavericks were trailing or tied at halftime in four matches out of a five-game stretch but went 3-0-2 in those games.

During the Mavericks' unbeaten streak, currently at seven games, CMU is dead-even having both scored and allowed four goals in the first 45 minutes. But in the second half during that span, the Mavs have scored 14 goals while conceding just three.
 
"Join"ing the Party
With two goals in the first half of Sunday's match, Joey Joiner got off the mark on the scoresheet for 2023 in his 10^th match.

Joiner now has 10 goals and 10 assists all-time in his 57-game college career. He has been one of the program's top four point-scorers in back-to-back seasons, finishing with four goals and four assists for a 12-point season in 2021 and three goals and three assists for a nine-point season in 2022.

The two-goal game made Joiner, a redshirt junior from Broomfield, Colorado, just the fourth Maverick in program history with both double-digit goals and assists in a career, joining Kevin Del Mazo (20 goals, 28 assists from 2015-18), Moshe Perez (22 goals, 22 assists from 2015-17) and Daisuke Takanaka (12 goals, 10 assists from 2020-22).

A total of 15 Maverick players have scored 10 or more goals at CMU while 12 players have 10 assists or more as a Maverick. Sophomore Manuel Ponce Casas scored his 10^th career goal on September 24 against Colorado Christian and has seven career assists.
 
By the Numbers
Through 10 games, the 2023 CMU men's soccer team looks every bit like a program that can contend in the RMAC and beyond.

Colorado Mesa is outscoring opponents 21-11 so far this season and have tallied 16 assists compared to seven for their opponents. In the RMAC, only No. 8 CSU Pueblo (24 goals) has scored more than CMU has, while the Mavs are tied with MSU Denver for second in the conference in assists.

CMU players have taken 156 shots and put 75 of those attempts on target. With 21 goals, the Mavs are scoring on 13.5 percent of their shot attempts while making sure opponents score on just 8.2 percent of theirs.

The Mavericks have committed 56 fouls this season, at least 20 fewer than every other RMAC team. The Mavs have committed less than half as many fouls as opponents have committed against them, with CMU drawing 119 fouls, more than any individual RMAC team has committed. The Mavericks have the second-fewest yellow cards in the conference (only South Dakota Mines has fewer with nine) and are one of five RMAC teams not to receive a red card in 2023.

Defensively, the Mavericks' 11 goals conceded is tied for the fourth-lowest mark among the 11 RMAC teams. The Mavs' 49 saves rank third in the conference as a team total, but redshirt sophomore Diego Chavez has made all 49 CMU stops and leads the conference individually.

In the Polls
With the failure to win both of their most recent matches, Colorado Mesa dropped out of the United Soccer Coaches national poll after featuring in it for the first time this season with a No. 24 ranking last week. However, the Mavericks appear in the "receiving votes" category for the second time this season.

Colorado Mesa also dropped one spot to fifth in the USC South Central regional rankings. Among regional teams (RMAC/Lone Star), the Mavericks trail Midwestern State (national No. 2), CSU Pueblo (national No. 8), St. Mary's (national No. 16) and UT-Tyler (nationally receiving votes). The rest of the regional rankings consists at Westminster at No. 6, followed by Lubbock Christian, Fort Lewis, UCCS and Texas A&M International.

Colorado Mesa was picked to finish fourth in the preseason Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coaches Poll, garnering 64 total points.

CSU Pueblo finished atop the poll with 97 points and seven of 11 first-place votes. Colorado School of Mines received 86 points and two first-place votes after winning the RMAC regular season and tournament titles last year, with UCCS just behind with 83 points and one first-place vote. Regis garnered the final first-place vote, but still finished just behind the Mavericks in fifth with 62 total points.

About Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines, the defending RMAC regular season champions, were picked second in the 2023 RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll behind only CSU Pueblo, the defending national runners-up. The undisputed class of the RMAC over the past half-decade, Mines is facing more adversity this season than the talented program is accustomed to.

The Orediggers have stumbled out of the gate to a 1-3-5 start but have faced a gauntlet of an opening schedule. They opened the year with three straight ties against teams which are currently ranked No. 9, No. 15 and No. 25 in the nation. Mines has already faced CSU Pueblo twice, shocking the then-No. 3 ThunderWolves 1-0 in a nonconference encounter before losing 3-0 on the road in an RMAC matchup. The Orediggers have also lost 1-0 to Westminster (picked sixth in the RMAC poll) and tied UCCS (picked fourth) 0-0.

Mines has only managed six goals in their opening nine games, off last season's pace when they scored 45 in 21 matches. Junior midfielder Marc Zimmerman has half of the team's six goals while redshirt senior Ian Kugler got the game-winner in the win over Pueblo. Freshman Alex Gonzalez leads the team with two assists. Sophomore Caden Allaire has played every minute in goal and has a 1.33 goals-against average and a .727 save percentage.

Head Coach Greg Mulholland has helmed the Orediggers since 2017 and had an impressive 84-19-12 record entering the 2023 season. He is a three-time RMAC Coach of the Year while his Mines staff has garnered two United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional Staff of the Year honors. Mulholland is the first RMAC coach ever to win six straight regular season titles and was also the first to win five straight.

The Mavericks have struggled against Colorado School of Mines, compiling a 5-22-2 all-time win-loss record against the Orediggers. The most signature Maverick win came during the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021, when CMU and Mines were tied 2-2 after 110 minutes but the Mavs advanced on penalty kicks. Colorado School of Mines has not had a regulation win over Mines since the 2016 season. The Mavericks lost 3-0 at home to Mines last season.

About MSU Denver
MSU Denver was picked seventh in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll. The Roadrunners are off to a 3-5-2 start in the 2023 season, going 1-1 in the first week of RMAC play.

The Roadrunners have seen highs and lows throughout the season, losing 5-0 to Midwestern State (which beat CMU 1-0) but crushing St. Cloud State 9-0 during nonconference play. MSU Denver made a good impression against tough competition as the RMAC slate got underway, falling 2-0 to No. 7 CSU Pueblo but beating a UCCS team that was picked fifth in the conference and was receiving votes nationally 1-0.

Junior forward Aaron Biggerstaff leads the way offensively with five goals and one assist while a quartet of Roadrunners (Aidan Bates, Tanner Stevenson, Adan Perez and Andres Arcila Saenz) have two goals apiece. Luke Bone leads with three assists. Ross Miller, a three-time RMAC Goalkeeper of the Week last season, has conceded 18 goals this year while making 33 saves in 10 matches.

Head coach Nick Kirchhof is in his fourth season in charge of the Roadrunners program, and is looking to replicate the immense success as a head coach that he has had as both an assistant and a player. Kirchhof appeared in two Division II national championship games as a player with RMAC school Fort Lewis, including a championship win in 2005. He had an assistant coaching stint at Colorado Mesa from 2008-2010 under former head coach Josh Pittman, then was a Division I assistant coach at the University of Denver for one year and Stanford for five years. Kirchhof was on staff for the Cardinal's back-to-back national titles in 2015 and 2016.

The Mavericks record against MSU Denver is fairly even, with CMU holding a slim 13-11-5 advantage, but there has been one dominant run of results for each school. The Roadrunners stormed out to a 9-0-1 lead in the first ten meetings between the two schools before CMU notched their first-ever win, a 2-1 triumph in overtime, during the 2011 season. After a few years of back-and-forth results, CMU has dominated in recent years. The Mavericks are unbeaten in the last 12 matches against MSU Denver, including eight consecutive wins.