GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Although a tough Florida road trip pushed the team under .500 overall for the season, Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse has an opportunity to take the outright lead in the RMAC standings ahead of a Saturday showdown with Westminster.

Returning to Community Hospital Unity Field, the Mavericks will seek to recapture the momentum of a 3-0 homestand from March 10-14 after three losses to ranked opponents in Florida last week dropped the team to 3-4. The Mavs are 2-0 in RMAC play with wins over Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo and are currently tied at the top of the conference standings with Westminster, who has defeated the same two RMAC opponents.

The game against Westminster will be the first half of a lacrosse doubleheader in Grand Junction on Saturday, as the women's game starts at noon before the men's lacrosse team plays Westminster at 3 p.m. Saturday will be the only time this season that men's and women's lacrosse play at home on the same day.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa couldn't break through against a difficult schedule on a road trip to Florida, finishing the trip 0-3 with all three losses coming to opponents ranked in the top 20.  

RECAPS: No. 19 Saint Leo | No. 8 Rollins | No. 6 Florida Southern

The Mavericks dropped a 13-7 decision to Saint Leo, then lost 13-9 to Rollins despite being tied with the Tars through three quarters. The Mavs were never in the game against perennial powerhouse Florida Southern, falling behind 8-1 after a quarter en route to a 24-12 loss.

Tale of Two Teams
Colorado Mesa's 0-3 record in Florida continued a fascinating trend for the Maverick program. This season, CMU is 3-0 against unranked opposition and 0-4 vs. ranked opponents. Colorado Mesa's ranking matches its resume as the Mavs were ranked No. 24 in the IWLCA Top 25 Poll for the first several weeks of the season before dropping to the receiving votes category after the Florida losses.

This statistical trend is nothing new for CMU women's lacrosse, however. In 2022, the Mavericks were 13-0 against unranked teams and 0-6 vs. ranked opponents, including Florida Southern and Rollins. In 2021, the Mavs were 9-0 against unranked teams and 0-5 against ranked opponents.

The last time that Colorado Mesa lost to an unranked opponent is all the way back on February 21, 2020, when the also-unranked Mavericks fell to Concordia-St. Paul 15-4 to drop to 0-2. The Mavs would play only two more games that season (both wins over unranked teams) before the season shut down due to COVID-19.

Colorado Mesa's most recent regular season win over a ranked opponent came on March 5, 2019, when the No. 21 Mavs beat No. 15 Grand Valley State 14-11 at home. The Lakers were the highest-ranked nonconference opponent to play a game in Grand Junction until this year's Grand Valley State team played at Community Hospital Unity Field ranked No. 10. Later in 2019, the Mavericks upset No. 8 Lindenwood in the first round of the NCAA Tournament despite the Lions defeating CMU two times earlier in the season.

Colorado Mesa currently has active streaks of 27 consecutive wins over unranked teams and 17 consecutive losses against ranked teams. From a numbers point of view, the good news for CMU is that six of the eight remaining regular season games are against unranked opponents, with the only exception being two matches against No. 3 Regis on April 6 and April 23.

Final Thirty
Colorado Mesa had problems in the second half in each of its Florida losses. Against Saint Leo, the two teams were tied 5-5 at halftime before Saint Leo outscored the Mavs 5-1 in the third quarter and 8-2 in the second half of its 13-7 victory.

Against Rollins, the Mavericks took a 6-4 lead into the halftime interval but allowed five goals in the third period to be tied 9-9 with the eighth-ranked Tars heading into the final 15 minutes. In that quarter, the Mavericks were held scoreless while conceding four times in the 13-9 loss. While the Mavericks fell behind quickly in the Florida Southern game, the Mavericks were still outscored 11-5 in the second half of the 24-12 final.

It was an unfortunate reversal for the Mavericks, who dominated the second half in each of their wins in Grand Junction. CMU clamped down defensively in the second half against Fort Lewis and outscored the Skyhawks 9-2 after halftime in their 19-7 win.

The Mavs used an explosion of goals from Kiley Davis and Justine Anderson to outscore Rockhurst 11-4 in the second half, turning a tight three-goal game at halftime into an eventual 10-goal final margin. Against CSU Pueblo, the Mavericks earned the right to take their foot off the gas after halftime as they led 16-1 after two quarters.

Killer Kiley
Redshirt junior midfielder Kiley Davis is pacing both the Mavericks and the RMAC offensively. Davis leads the conference in total goals (27) and total points (32), averaging 3.86 goals and 4.57 points per game.

Davis has scored multiple goals in all seven of CMU's games this season. She has been the Mavs' outright scoring leader in six of those seven games, including against Saint Leo and Florida Southern. Davis scored four times against Florida Southern, the fourth time she has reached that exact total this season.

Ramping Things Up
Freshman Carson Dickey is coming into her own as an attacking threat. After notching single goals against Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo, Dickey tallied the first two multi-goal games of her career on the Florida trip.

Dickey recorded her first career hat trick against Rollins, scoring all three of her goals in the first half to help CMU take a 6-4 halftime lead over the No. 8 Tars. The first half was kind to Dickey again in the Florida Southern game, as she scored twice in the second quarter, including one with under a minute left in the period.

Dickey has added three assists for 10 points on the season, making her one of seven Mavericks with double digit points so far. Her seven goals are tied for fourth on the team.  

Career Week
Maverick netminder Shannon Murphy had a week to remember on an individual statistic level. The sophomore recorded 16 saves to open up the road trip against Saint Leo, which doubled Murphy's previous career high of eight. Murphy made those 16 saves against 13 goals allowed for a .552 save percentage, the fourth-highest single-game total of her career.

Despite having doubled her previous career best in her most recent game, Murphy made 16 saves the new normal by recording that number again in the match against Rollins two days later. The déjà vu continued as Murphy also allowed 13 goals in that game to match her .552 save percentage mark from the Saint Leo game.

So far this season, Murphy has allowed 82 goals and made 56 saves for a .406 save percentage. She has played every minute in goal for CMU up until this point.

Pocket Picker
Redshirt junior Kelsey Viger won the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award on March 20, making her the second Maverick to win a weekly award this season after Peyton Ivey won the preceding Defensive Player of the Week award.

Viger had five of her conference-leading 18 caused turnovers on March 14 against Rockhurst, leading the charge for a Maverick program that caused 17 on the day against the Hawks. Viger's 2.57 caused turnovers per game are 0.7 more than any other RMAC player.

About Westminster
Westminster hasn't had much of a nonconference schedule, completing only one non-RMAC game against a Division II opponent. Although Westminster has played exhibition matches against Division I opposition like BYU and Utah Valley, the Griffins only have a 2-1 official record while every other RMAC school has played five games or more.

The Griffins took a 12-11 overtime loss to Dominican (Calif.) before winning a pair of conference shootouts, defeating CSU Pueblo 21-18 and Fort Lewis 19-11. Those results mean that CMU and Westminster enter Saturday's game tied for the early lead in the RMAC standings with both teams at 2-0 in conference play.

Westminster is led by Lauren and Shaina Shoughro. Lauren, a graduate student midfielder, paces the Griffins with 13 goals, including nine against CSU Pueblo. Shaina, a freshman, chipped in four goals against the ThunderWolves and five against Fort Lewis as she ranks second on the team with 10 points.

Colorado Mesa has won 15 consecutive meetings against Westminster and is 16-1 in the all-time series. The 2022 matchups were both lopsided affairs, with CMU winning 17-3 in Salt Lake City before winning 20-1 two weeks later in Grand Junction.