BANNER ELK, N.C. – Colorado Mesa announced its arrival in the Tar Heel State, rolling to a 25-2 win over Lees-McRae in the first of three North Carolina road games.
Jed Brummett continued his dominant start to the year with six goals while
Ethan Points notched a hat trick to get on the board for 2023.
James Steinke finished with five points and was one of five other Mavericks to score multiple times.
The Mavs did not let Lees-McRae hang around for long, scoring 11 times in the first quarter, 19 times in the first half and 10 times before Lees-McRae found the net.
Drew Eickelman kicked things off with a goal off an assist from
Hunter Holcomb just 1:08 into the game before
Alex Blatt and
AJ Switzer added on.
Jed Brummett picked up a true hat trick, scoring three consecutive goals to make it 6-0 with less than 10 minutes gone. Brummett would add a fourth later in the period, along with another from Blatt, two from Points and one from
Mike Edwards.
Second quarter highlights included Brummett scoring twice to reach six goals just 2:41 into the second period, as well as the first two goals in a Maverick uniform for
Philip Petersen, a transfer from Howard CC.
The Mavericks were content to run down the clock for much of the second half. Freshman
Dillon Pless had a couple career moments, scoring his first collegiate goal while a man up with 10:44 to play in the fourth quarter. He earlier had tallied his first collegiate point by assisting on
Micah Payton's third-period goal. Pless's goal was the only man advantage goal of the day for CMU.
The Mavericks dominated in shots (52 to 13), ground balls (40 to 13) and face-offs (24 to 8), with
Dylan Checketts winning 16 of 19 from the circle on his own.
Starting goalie
Calvin Doucette played for 23 minutes and made two saves before giving way to
Mac Bayless, who made four stops.
Dom Pasquale made his collegiate debut over the final 15 minutes, allowing one goal and making one save.
With the win, CMU is 2-0 on the season. The loss dropped Lees-McRae to 0-5. The Mavs play next on Saturday vs. Belmont Abbey and Tuesday against Mount Olive, both teams that are receiving votes in the USILA national poll. Saturday's contest against Belmont Abbey will begin at 10 a.m.
