PALM BEACH, Fla. – Colorado Mesa found the net early and often, rebounding from just its second loss of the season to defeat Palm Beach Atlantic 15-8 to close a three-game Florida road trip.

AJ Switzer recorded a hat trick and four assists to finish with seven points, setting a program single-game season-high. Jed Brummett scored four goals to pace CMU in that category, all of which came before Palm Beach Atlantic was on the board. Sal Iaria and Drew Eickelman each bagged a goal and two assists for three-point games.

The victory improves the Mavericks' record to 8-2 overall and 2-1 on this road trip to Florida. Palm Beach Atlantic dropped to 2-6. Next up for the No. 15 Mavs is the RMAC season and CMU's first home game of the year on April 1 against conference rivals Westminster.

The Mavericks were able to launch a full-frontal assault on the PBA goal for much of the game, outshooting the Sailfish 52-23, including 13 or more shots in each of the first three periods. CMU created offensive chances by going a perfect 11-for-11 on clears. Colorado Mesa scooped up more ground balls (31-22) and won more faceoffs (17-10) while the goalie trio of Calvin Doucette, Luke Parrish and Mac Bayless combined for eight saves.

The Mavs held Palm Beach Atlantic scoreless for the first 24 minutes of game time. Sal Iaria and Jed Brummett were heavily involved in the first quarter, as Iaria opened the scoring three minutes in before Brummett scored from Iaria just over three minutes later. Brummett added a second before Alex Blatt beat the first-quarter buzzer with an unassisted goal to give CMU a 4-0 lead after one period.

After seeing an eight-game hat trick streak snapped on Monday against Tampa, Jed Brummett may have started another one after scoring his third and fourth goals of the game just 44 seconds apart early in the second quarter. The second goal, which put CMU up 6-0, was scored by Jed Brummett and assisted by JJ Brummett, the first time in the younger Brummett's career that he has assisted on his older brother's goal.

JJ Brummett got on the scoresheet himself with an assist from AJ Switzer, then Switzer put one in the net himself with 30 seconds till halftime to send the Mavs into the break with an 8-2 lead. Switzer only continued to control the game in the second half, accumulating points on five of CMU's six third-quarter goals.

Switzer set up Deuce Kirschke and Philip Petersen for CMU's first two goals of the half, then scored from Drew Eickelman and dished to Hunter Holcomb for a goal a minute later that put the Mavericks up by a 13-4 margin. After the Sailfish scored once, Switzer made sure the Mavs had the last word by completing his hat trick with an assist from Sal Iaria with 1:46 to go in the third quarter.

Freshman Connor Jensen wrapped things up with his second career goal to get the Mavericks to 15. Palm Beach Atlantic ended up scoring the final three goals of the game, but it was not enough to ever threaten the final result.

The Mavericks now have a week and a half off before hosting Westminster on April 1 in a rematch of the RMAC Tournament Championship game. With Westminster and Adams State each having two nonconference games left to play, the Mavs are asserting themselves as the class of the RMAC so far with their 8-2 record, as Westminster is 3-3, Adams State is 1-0 with an NAIA win and CSU Pueblo is 0-7.