GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – After a trip to Florida netted two victories, a second ranked win and a strong showing against the defending national champions, Colorado Mesa men's lacrosse has positioned itself as a genuine RMAC and NCAA Tournament contender heading into the start of the conference season.

The Mavericks will need to prove those credentials immediately, however, as the RMAC slate kicks off against Westminster on Saturday that likely determines who will have pole position for the conference title and a potential postseason berth.

Sitting at 8-2 overall and ranked No. 14 in the country, CMU is set for its only home game in the opening 14 contests of the season this weekend as they welcome the Griffins to Community Hospital Unity Field for the first of two regular-season matchups between the RMAC rivals. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m. and will be the second half of a lacrosse doubleheader after the CMU women's team takes on Westminster at noon.

Looking Back
The Mavericks began their Florida trip with a win over then-No. 20 Florida Tech, the Mavs' second consecutive win over a ranked opponent, followed by a loss to No. 3 Tampa and a comfortable win over unranked Palm Beach Atlantic.

RECAPS: No. 20 Florida Tech | No. 3 Tampa | Palm Beach Atlantic

Jed Brummett scored five goals to pace the Maverick attack against Florida Tech while AJ Switzer set a 2023 RMAC single-game high with eight points against Palm Beach Atlantic (three goals and five assists). Unfortunately, the Mavs never threatened against Tampa, falling into an 11-4 hole at halftime and losing 19-11 despite a five-goal third period.

Assist King
With a three-assist night against Florida Tech, redshirt junior James Steinke now stands alone as Colorado Mesa's all-time career record holder in assists. The Castle Rock, Colorado native now has 58 assists for his career and broke the record in his 44^th career game. He eclipsed the previous mark of 56 set by 2016-18 alum Reece Callies. Callies currently plays for the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League (NLL), a professional indoor lacrosse team.

Steinke already holds the single-season program record with 28 assists, which he set last season. Steinke had two assists in six games as a freshman, then accumulated 15 in 2021, the record mark of 28 in 2022 and 13 and counting so far in 10 games this season.

Steinke's single-game career high is five assists in one game, making him one of eight players tied for the program record. That group includes James Booth, who did it three times, and current teammates Sergio Pelayo and AJ Switzer, who achieved five assists against Palm Beach Atlantic on March 22.

Steinke has 18 career games with multiple assists, including four so far this season. He achieved four assists in a single game once, against Adams State on April 25, 2021, and has recorded three assists in a game five times – including this season against Lees-McRae and Florida Tech. Steinke has 30 points so far this season and ranks second on the team with 17 goals and third with his 13 assists.

Super Switzer
The single-season assist record of 28 may be under threat this season by AJ Switzer, who has 20 assists through 10 games played with a minimum of seven games to go.

Against Palm Beach Atlantic, Switzer's three goals and five assists gave him eight points in a single-game, tied for the third-highest performance in school history. The five assists also tie a single-game school record that after Switzer's inclusion has been achieved 10 times by eight different players, including newly minted all-time assist leader James Steinke.

Switzer and Steinke rank sixth and seventh, respectively, all-time in career points for CMU with Switzer having 133 and Steinke accumulating 125. In career goals, Switzer is in eighth on the all-time list with 79 and is two goals away from jumping into sixth. Steinke currently ranks ninth all-time with 67 career goals.

Switzer's 20 assists lead the team and the RMAC as CMU boasts the top three assist-getters in the conference (Drew Eickelman with 15 and Steinke with 13). Switzer's 16 goals are third on the team and tied for fourth in the RMAC.

Century Mark
As Jed Brummett continues to rise up the Colorado Mesa program leaderboards with his historic goal-scoring pace this season, the attacker from Glen Rock, Pennsylvania is on the verge of a major career milestone.

Brummett will enter Saturday's game against Westminster with 98 career goals, just two away from becoming only the third Maverick in program history to record over 100. Brummett has a pretty good chance of reaching the milestone Saturday, given that he has scored two or more goals in every game this season and three or more goals in all but one contest.

Boosted by 38 goals and counting through 10 games this season, Brummett ranks third in program history in career goals, trailing 2013-17 alum Steve Brandenburg (145) and 2016-2019 alum Jack Griffin (135). Brummett has already risen to third after starting the 2023 season in 10^th place all-time.

Brummett's 38 goals this season already rank fifth all-time for a single season in CMU program history, with an absolute minimum of seven games left to play and potentially more if the Mavericks advance in the RMAC and NCAA Tournaments. On the single season goalscoring list, Brummett now trails only Brandenburg (58 in 2017), Griffin (49 in 2019), Brandenburg again (46 in 2016) and Reece Callies (41 in 2018).

The redshirt junior ranks tied for sixth in Division II with his 38 goals and is tied for eighth in Division II with 3.8 goals per game. That scoring clip puts Brummett on pace to shatter the program record of 3.22 per game set by Brandenburg in 2017, when Brandenburg set the single season scoring record in 18 games played.

Weekly Winners
Two more Mavericks earned weekly honors from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference office this week, as AJ Switzer took home the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week award while Trey Corkin III won the Defensive Player of the Week award.

Switzer and Corkin III each became the third individual CMU winners of each award so far this season. Colorado Mesa players have combined to win 10 of the 14 honors awarded in 2023, and 10 of 12 since the first week of the season when the Mavs were ineligible to win as their season had not started yet.

The Mavericks have won five Offensive Player of the Week awards between Jed Brummett with three and one apiece for Drew Eickelman and Switzer. CMU has also claimed five Defensive Player of the Week awards – one for goaltender Calvin Doucette and three for face-off man Dylan Checketts prior to Corkin's win this week.

Big Game
It might be a bit of a stretch to say the entire RMAC season will be decided by Saturday's game, but it's probably not far from the truth.

Colorado Mesa and Westminster have been the top two programs in the RMAC in every year of the conference's lacrosse history. The Mavericks have won the RMAC regular season title three times and have shared it with Westminster twice, including last season, while the Griffins have won the regular season championship outright once. CMU and Westminster have also played in the final of all six RMAC Tournaments, with the Mavericks winning four times and Westminster taking two.

The two regular season meetings with Westminster are significant to determine the location of the RMAC Tournament and whether or not the Mavs will have homefield advantage in postseason play. Every RMAC Tournament has been hosted by either CMU or Westminster thanks to one of those two schools always being the regular season champs and No. 1 seed.

Conference Leaderboards
The Mavericks are the class of the RMAC in nearly every measurable category so far in 2023. Colorado Mesa leads the conference with 16.8 goals per game (4.7 more than second-place Westminster) and 9.9 assists per game (2.3 more than second-place Adams State). The Mavs take 51 shots per game, 10 more per game than anybody else in the conference, and place 32.6 per game on goal, also a conference high.

Individually, Jed Brummett has healthy leads in goals (38) and points (39), while Dylan Checketts is pacing the conference with a .644 faceoff win percentage and 7.3 ground balls per game. Trey Corkin III has been a defensive standout, leading the RMAC with 13 caused turnovers and ranking third with 4.1 ground balls per game.

Series History
Colorado Mesa and Westminster have developed a rivalry over the years, as the two schools have combined to win every RMAC regular season and tournament championship since the conference began sponsoring men's lacrosse in 2016.

The Mavericks lead the all-time series 13-6 but have split the last 10 matchups evenly at 5-5 with the Griffins. CMU recorded three game sweeps of Westminster (two regular season wins plus an RMAC Tournament final victory) in 2017 and 2018 before Westminster turned the tables and went 3-0 against the Mavs during the 2019 season.

The Mavericks won both regular season matchups by a combined 19 goals in 2021, but the Griffins sprung a 16-13 upset in the RMAC Tournament final that year to steal the championship away from the Mavs. Last season in 2022, each team recorded three-goal victories at home in the regular season before the Mavs prevailed 16-10 in last year's RMAC Tournament final in Grand Junction.

About Westminster
Westminster is 3-5 overall after going 0-2 on its own trip to Florida. Unlike the Mavericks, Westminster has already played an RMAC opponent this season, defeating CSU Pueblo 21-1 on March 6. The Griffins also have wins over Rockhurst and Lynn.

The Griffins nearly pulled off what would have been the biggest win in program history and probably in the nation this year. Westminster took No. 3 Tampa – which had beaten CMU 19-11 just three days earlier – to overtime on Tampa's home turf before Westminster conceded in the extra period to lose 11-10. Tampa, who were the undefeated national champions a year ago, couldn't hold a two-goal lead with five minutes left in regulation as Merritt McMahon scored twice to force extra time. Three days later, Westminster lost 14-8 to No. 16 Florida Southern.

McMahon is Westminster's primary offensive threat, as the senior attacker ranks second in the RMAC to CMU's Jed Brummett with 24 goals this season. McMahon has scored multiple goals in every game so far this season and is coming off a hat trick against Tampa and four goals against Florida Southern. Freshman Luke Sillstrop has emerged with 16 goals in eight games while senior Skyler Weathers has six multi-assist games and 20 total points.

Jacob Miller, Westminster's primary goaltender, has been solid with a .519 save percentage after making 95 saves against 88 goals conceded. The junior currently has a 12.08 goals-against average. Miller's save percentage and 11.9 saves per game both rank second in the RMAC to Ethan Ferrie of CSU Pueblo.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa maintained its season-high ranking of No. 14 for the second consecutive week in the latest USILA Top 20 Poll from last Monday. Crucially, the Mavericks have a head-to-head win over No. 13 Rollins. The team's two losses are to No. 3 Tampa, which received one first-place vote in the poll, and Belmont Abbey, which is the top team in the receiving votes category. Westminster, Saturday's opponent, also received votes.

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.