GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – On a four-game winning streak and coming off a top-10 neutral-site victory, Colorado Mesa men's lacrosse has as much momentum as you could ask for heading into a pivotal series of games in the Sunshine State.

The 6-1 Mavericks, ranked No. 15 in the latest USILA Poll, will exit the Mountain time zone for the final time in the 2023 regular season with a three-game road trip to Florida providing CMU's final matches before the six-game RMAC schedule. The trip is front-loaded with tough opponents as the Mavs open against No. 20 Florida Tech on Saturday followed by No. 5 Tampa, the defending national champion, on Monday.

Looking Back
The Mavericks had a 2-0 trip to Kansas City, defeating Rockhurst and Quincy, before recording easily their most signature win of the season so far over No. 7 Rollins from a neutral site in Salt Lake City.

RECAPS: Rockhurst | Quincy | No. 7 Rollins

The Mavs used 11 different goal scorers in a 16-6 win over Rockhurst, then stayed on the same field to beat Quincy 21-7. Between the end of the Rockhurst game and the beginning of the Quincy game, CMU scored 15 unanswered goals against its opposition. Last Saturday, CMU scored three times in the final three minutes to ice a 15-10 victory over Rollins.

A Man of Many Hats
Redshirt junior attacker Jed Brummett is off to an incredible start this season. Brummett has 27 goals in CMU's opening seven games, which ranks him tied for fifth in Division II in total goals and 15^th in Division II with 3.86 goals per game.

Brummett has been a consistent producer as well, maintaining a streak of recording a hat trick (three goals) or better in each of CMU's games this season. So far, Brummett has scored exactly three goals in four of CMU's seven games, with one game each of four (vs. Quincy), five (vs. Belmont Abbey) and six goals (vs. Lees-McRae).

Unsurprisingly, Brummett has taken home a pair of RMAC Offensive Player of the Week awards this season, including last week's honor.

It's still early in the season, but Brummett is on a pace that would place him in the upper echelon of Maverick lacrosse history. Jed's current 3.86 goals per game pace would shatter the single-season record of 3.22 per game set by Steve Brandenburg in 2017. In that season, Brandenburg scored 58 goals (also a single season program record) in 18 games played.

Brummett has already shot past his season totals of 19 in 2021 and 23 in 2022, when he was recognized as the RMAC Co-Attacker of the Year alongside teammate Hunter Holcomb. Brummett is already just six goals away from having one of the top 10 goalscoring seasons in program history with an absolute minimum of nine games left.

Three-Peat
Faceoff man Dylan Checketts, an honorable mention All-American in 2022, is back to dominating in 2023. Checketts leads the RMAC with 52 ground balls and a 68.1 faceoff winning percentage, a pair of factors that have helped him rake in three consecutive RMAC Defensive Player of the Week awards.

Checketts, a junior from Herriman, Utah, has doubled his career weekly award output over the past three weeks as this trio of wins give him six Defensive Player of the Week honors for his career.

Against Rockhurst, Checketts was practically unbeatable, winning 16 of 18 faceoffs and scooping 15 ground balls to match a career high. Checketts previously reached 15 as a freshman vs. Westminster on April 2, 2021.

Finishing Strong
A common thread in CMU's three most recent wins is that the Mavericks have consistently won the fourth quarter, outscoring opponents 18-4 combined.

Against Rockhurst, CMU entered the final period with an 11-6 lead and ended up doubling their advantage by outscoring the Hawks 5-0 over the final 15 minutes. The Mavericks had the game well in hand against Quincy but still played to the whistle, scoring seven goals to their opponents' two in the final period to lock up a 21-7 win.

In the game with Rollins, the fourth-quarter rush was critical. The teams were going back and forth, and CMU ended both the second and third quarters with slim one-goal leads. But a 6-2 run in the fourth quarter allowed the Mavs to pull away for the 15-10 win and ranked victory. The wave of goals included two from Drew Eickelman and second goals of the game for Alex Blatt and James Steinke, with the capper being a solo effort from Dylan Checketts, who won a faceoff, collected the ground ball and scored with 1:22 left without any other player touching the ball.

The Mavericks had an even goal differential in the fourth quarter through their first two matches, but the tide began to turn when a 4-1 fourth quarter against Belmont Abbey closed a four-goal deficit into a narrow one-goal loss with chances to tie the game. Overall through seven games, CMU is outscoring opponents 32-10 in the final 15 minutes of game time.

Second Time's the Charm
Although the order is different, the 2023 Colorado Mesa schedule has plenty of similarities to 2022 in terms of opponents.

The Mavericks have already reprised 2022 by defeating Colorado College, Rockhurst and Quincy, and avenged a 16-9 loss to Rollins in 2022 with last Saturday's win. The final three common non-conference opponents between 2022 and 2023 are the three schools coming up this week. In last year's trip, which took place from March 16-23, the Mavs started things off with a 14-10 win over Palm Beach Atlantic before dropping a pair of games to then-No. 2 Tampa and then-No. 14 Florida Tech.

This year's version is much more compact, with three games in the span of five days rather than eight. The Mavs are also leading off with the powerhouse programs this time, facing Florida Tech and Tampa first before concluding things at Palm Beach Atlantic.

Series History
The upcoming matches will be the third all-time meetings between CMU and both Florida Tech and Palm Beach Atlantic. Last year's loss to Florida Atlantic was the first time the Mavericks had seen Florida Tech since 2012, when CMU was victorious by a 12-8 score. The Mavs defeated PBA 11-10 back in 2018 before topping them last year, with both as true road wins.

Colorado Mesa and Tampa have a slightly more extensive history, with the Spartans holding a 5-4 advantage in nine all-time meetings between 2012-22. The Mavs earned wins in 2012 and 2013, but since then, Tampa has won five of seven over their current active streak of eight consecutive seasons reaching the quarterfinals or better in the NCAA Tournament.

The Mavericks have lost four straight decisions in Tampa, last winning in Florida back in 2015. The most recent CMU win over Tampa was at a neutral site in Salt Lake City in 2018, when the Mavericks came back from deficits of 3-0 and 8-5 to defeat the then-No. 3 Spartans 10-9.

About Florida Tech
The Florida Tech Panthers are ranked No. 20 in the nation. The Panthers have a 4-2 record, but both losses have come to top-five teams in then-No. 1 Tampa and then-No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne. Florida Tech has looked good in its victories, scoring a program-record 26 goals in a 26-8 win over Emmanuel (GA) and comfortably beating Barton 17-9 on Tuesday.

Junior attacker Collin Stewart has been on fire lately, scoring 12 of his 14 goals in Florida Tech's past three games. Stewart was named last week's Sunshine State Conference Offensive Player of the Week after scoring five goals against Emmanuel and four against Lenoir-Rhyne. That award didn't even factor in his six-point night against Barton, with three goals and three assists.

Junior Zach Rozgonyi is the team's leading scorer with 14 goals and eight assists. Rozgonyi has had either multiple goals or multiple assists in all of Florida Tech's games this season. Nate Deplancke is an 11-goal scorer while sophomore Jakob Terpak has accumulated 10 assists. Sophomore goalie Jax Francisco sports a 10.64 goals-against average and a .541 save percentage. He has three games with 12 or more saves this year.

About Tampa
The Tampa Spartans broke through last season. After a seven-year run of NCAA Tournaments in which Tampa was eliminated four times in the quarterfinals and three times in the semifinals, Tampa ran the table in 2022, finishing the year a perfect 21-0 and with a national championship victory over Mercy.

Tampa won in blowout fashion plenty of times but was also clutch, with a 7-0 record in games decided by three goals or less. One of those games was against Colorado Mesa last season, as the then-No. 2 Spartans edged ahead in the third quarter for a 15-12 victory over the then-No. 20 Mavericks.

Tampa entered 2023 as the preseason No. 1 team, but they won't be perfect this season after losing to unranked Frostburg State 14-12 on March 4, a loss that's dropped the 6-1 Spartans to No. 5 in the country. But Tampa has plenty of marquee wins already, defeating three ranked teams in Florida Tech, Wilmington and Lenoir-Rhyne with an opportunity to bank a fourth against CMU.

Tampa returns a pair of national award winners in 2022 National Player of the Year/Defensive Player of the Year Matthew Beddow and National Goalkeeper of the Year Blake Ulmer. The Spartans have five players with double-digit goals already, led by senior attacker Owen Miller with 17 goals and 26 points. A pair of graduate students in midfielder Daniel Fitzpatrick (15 goals, 10 assists) and Harry Kikowski (13 goals, 11 assists) have a double-double of sorts with over 10 of both points statistics.

Head coach J.B. Clarke and assistant coach Ryan Sullivan were named the national staff of the year by USILA in 2022.

About Palm Beach Atlantic
The Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish are off to a 2-5 start in 2023. They defeated Davis & Elkins 22-5 on March 7 and just beat Quincy 23-12 on Friday, but three of their losses are by 10 goals or more with none by less than five goals.

Senior midfielder Henry Sloyan leads the charge for the Sailfish with 13 goals and 18 points, including five goals against Davis & Elkins and a four-goal effort in a loss to No. 4 Adelphi. Graduate attacker Neil Calkin has nine goals and five assists for PBA.

The Sailfish have struggled defensively as main goaltender Ben Lightsey has an 18.17 goals-against average and a .339 save percentage. The Sailfish have also been called for five or more penalties in four of their six games so far, providing lots of extra man opportunities for opposing offenses.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa's only loss of the season, to Belmont Abbey, knocked them from their preseason No. 19 perch to out of the USILA Top 20 Poll for the past two weeks. After defeating a top-10 foe in Rollins, however, the Mavs are firmly back in the national conversation.

The Mavericks currently sport a season-high No. 15 ranking, earning 116 points in the poll. Rollins fell to No. 13 after losing to CMU. As of today, the Tars are the only ranked opponent that CMU has played, but that will be changing this weekend with the trips to No. 20 Florida Tech and No. 5 Tampa. Westminster, which received one vote, is the only other RMAC school represented in the national poll.
The Mavs finished atop the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, earning all three possible first-place votes. This marks a return to the number one spot for CMU, which ranked second in last year's preseason poll behind Westminster.

Westminster finished second this year, receiving two second place votes and Colorado Mesa's first-place vote as no coach could vote for their own program. CSU Pueblo and Adams State tied for third in the poll with one second-place vote and two third-place votes each.

Head Honcho
The 2022-23 season is the first in charge for new head coach Troy Moyer, who has served as an assistant at CMU since the 2019 season.

Former head coach Vince Smith resigned to pursue other opportunities after winning his third RMAC Coach of the Year award in 2022. Moyer was named the interim head coach after Smith's departure on July 13 and was hired as the permanent head coach on September 30. Moyer retained all current players through the coaching transition.

With Moyer as an assistant coach, Colorado Mesa has won two regular season RMAC titles and the RMAC Tournament Championship last season. Prior to Colorado Mesa, Moyer coached at Division III Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, his home state. He played Division I Lacrosse at Sacred Heart University.