GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse received plenty of recognition at both the conference and national levels when the sport's preseason polls were released this week.
The Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) ranked CMU at No. 22 in their preseason ILWomen/IWLCA DII Poll. The preseason ranking continues a steady improvement over the years for the program, which entered 2021 ranked No. 25 and 2022 ranked No. 24.
Colorado Mesa is the fourth-highest ranked team in their region in the preseason poll, trailing No. 5 and season-opening opponents Grand Valley State, No. 8 and defending national champions UIndy and No. 9 and defending RMAC Champions Regis.
The Mavericks were picked to finish second in the RMAC Preseason Poll, matching the position they have finished in the past two seasons. Regis was the runaway conference favorite with 25 points and five first place votes. CMU finished second with 20 points, picking up one first-place vote from Regis, who could not vote for themselves. The RMAC Poll is rounded out by UCCS with 18 points, Fort Lewis and Westminster each with 11 and CSU Pueblo with five points.
Nine of the 12 Mavs that received All-RMAC recognition in 2022 return to this year's squad, including
Ali Bryant, the reigning RMAC Midfielder and Freshman of the Year. Along with Bryant, attacker
Taylor Jakeman and defender
Kelsey Viger give CMU three returning first-team All-RMAC honorees. Also coming back are last season's leading scorer in midfielder
Kiley Davis and leader in assists in attacker
Melanie Evans.
The Mavericks will open the season on Friday, March 3 against No. 5 Grand Valley State. Fans will also have an opportunity to see two top-10 teams in action when No. 9 Regis faces Grand Valley in a neutral-site game on Sunday, March 5 taking place at Community Hospital Unity Field on the CMU campus. Conference play begins a week later with CMU hosting Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo on Friday, March 10 and Sunday, March 12.
Although rankings are certainly subject to change throughout the season, the Mavericks currently have five ranked opponents on the schedule, including four in the top 10. In addition to facing Grand Valley State, the Mavs will face No. 25 Saint Leo, No. 10 Rollins and No. 4 Florida Southern on the road in the span of five days from March 21-25. They will also face Regis twice as a part of RMAC play in Denver on April 6 and in Grand Junction on April 23.
