GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa's globetrotting lacrosse team has reached the second leg of the first of its two extended road trips this spring.
After going 2-1 in three games in North Carolina, the Mavericks are getting set to play a pair of games in Kansas City, Missouri on the campus of Rockhurst University. The Mavs will play a true road game against Rockhurst on Friday at 5 p.m., then play a neutral-site game on the same field against Quincy on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Along the way, the Mavs scooped up some weekly awards and made a couple dents in the program's all-time record books.
Friday's match will be livestreamed by Rockhurst on the GLVC Sports Network. As of now, there will not be a live stream for Saturday's neutral-site game, but fans can follow along via live stats or the program Twitter account, @COMesa_MLax.
Looking Back
Colorado Mesa started strong with a 25-2 win over Lees-McRae before tighter matchups against Belmont Abbey and Mount Olive.
RECAPS:
Lees-McRae |
Belmont Abbey |
Mount Olive
The Mavericks suffered their first loss of the year in a narrow 12-11 defeat to Belmont Abbey, which received the most votes out of any school to miss the cut of the Top 20 USILA Poll. CMU was able to rebound a few days later with a 19-8 win over Mount Olive, outscoring the opponent 10-2 in the second half to put the result away.
Players of the Week
For the second consecutive week, CMU swept the RMAC's weekly offensive and defensive awards.
Jed Brummett earned the offensive honor after scoring 14 goals over the past three games while
Dylan Checketts took home the defensive honor after collecting 6.3 ground balls per game and going 42-22 in the face-off circle.
Brummett and Checketts are the second CMU duo to win after midfielder
Drew Eickelman and goalie
Calvin Doucette claimed the honors last week.
Lighting It Up
Jed Brummett has emerged as the conference's best offensive threat over the season's first few weeks. Brummett scored a career-high six goals against Lees-McRae, which also ties the third-highest single-game total in program history for an individual. The 25 goals scored by the team in that game are tied for the ninth-most in team history.
Brummett now has 17 goals in the season's opening four games, which not only leads the RMAC but is more than double the amount of second place, which is Westminster's Merritt McMahon with eight.
Beyond Brummett,
Drew Eickelman and
James Steinke each have seven goals and seven assists to tie for second on the team with 14 points. Eickelman has tallied at least one goal and assist in every game so far this season while Steinke recorded a hat trick against Mount Olive.
Jed's brother
JJ Brummett has six goals on the season, most of which came in the win over Mount Olive where he netted a career-high four. In that contest, JJ found the net in every single shot on goal he took and only failed to find the frame on one shot attempt.
About Rockhurst
Rockhurst is off to a 4-1 start in 2023 and were also receiving votes in the most recent edition of the USILA Poll. The Hawks are a familiar foe for CMU, as Rockhurst was a member of the RMAC for men's lacrosse for three seasons from 2016-18.
The Mavericks have traditionally done well, winning 10 of 11 all-time matchups, including seven of eight when the meetings were conference games. This will be the third time CMU has played Rockhurst since the Hawks left the conference. The Mavs won 14-10 and 10-5 in the previous two.
The Mavericks will not be the first current RMAC team Rockhurst has faced this year. The Hawks opened their season with a 22-6 win over CSU Pueblo and were handed their only loss thus far by Westminster, who won 10-9 last Sunday. Rockhurst also has a head-to-head 6-5 win over Quincy, Colorado Mesa's opponent on Saturday.
Alex Weis is Rockhurst's leading scorer with 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points, with Grant Brunsvold not far behind with nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points. Rockhurst is outscoring opponents 65-32 so far.
About Quincy
Colorado Mesa will swap out one team of Hawks for another, as Quincy – whose mascot is also the Hawks – playing CMU Saturday morning in a neutral-site contest. Quincy is 4-1 with their only loss coming to Rockhurst.
These Hawks will be flying high into their matchup with CMU, as the team is coming off a record-breaking performance. Facing a Division III opponent in Monmouth College, Quincy set a program record with 30 goals in a 30-5 win. The Hawks were up 22-1 at halftime in that game. Quincy hasn't been only playing Division III schools, though – they defeated Lake Erie College, yet another team receiving votes in the national poll, 18-15 to open the season.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the 30-5 win is how effectively Quincy was able to spread the wealth. Five different Quincy players had three goals in that game, with another four players having exactly two goals. Seven different players found the net once to make it 16 different goalscorers in that one game.
With the entire season as a sample size, Quincy has a three-headed attack with freshman Donald Griffith (13 g, 20 pts) and juniors Jordan Ernst (15 g, 18 pts) and Jayme Brain (12 goals, 13 pts). Junior face-off man Mason Marano is winning 51 percent of his draws this year but also leads the team with 12 assists.
