GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – With one moment, Colorado Mesa erased 12 years of frustration and made winning a conference title for the first time in program history a very real possibility after surviving a furious comeback from No. 4 Regis to pull the stunning upset over the Rangers, 14-13 in overtime.

The Mavericks tallied their first-ever win over a top-five ranked team and broke a Regis winning streak of 46 consecutive wins outside the NCAA Tournament. The Mavs also broke their own streak of what had been 18 consecutive losses to ranked opponents prior to today. Colorado Mesa held on to win despite Regis scoring eight of the game's final 11 goals and winning 10 of the game's final 11 draws.

The thrilling victory capped a memorable and emotional day that began with CMU's eight seniors – Regan Wentz, Brianna Anderson, Xcaret Salvador, Erika Farrage, Melanie Evans, Kiley Davis, Kelsey Viger and Taylor Jakeman – all being honored during a pregame ceremony. Davis and Wentz marked the occasion with three goals apiece for CMU, the first hat trick of the season for Wentz.

Despite it being senior day, though, it was three juniors who combined to execute the deciding sequence of the game. Regis had won the draw to grab the first possession of a sudden-death extra period, but Taylor Scott stripped the ball from Regis star Lily Ferguson's stick and Peyton Ivey swooped in to pick up the ground ball. After patiently moving the ball around for nearly 90 seconds, Courtney Havel passed it back to Ivey, who scored her 14^th goal of the year with and sent Community Hospital Unity Field into an absolute frenzy.

The win is the first over Regis in the history of the Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse program. The Mavericks were previously 0-28 all-time against Regis, dating back to CMU's debut season in 2011. The Mavs' win is the first time that Regis has lost an RMAC women's lacrosse game since April 15, 2018 against Lindenwood – five years and eight days ago. The Rangers have qualified for two NCAA Tournament Final Fours in that span.

While significant on a historical note, the win is massive for this season as well. With the win, Colorado Mesa moves into first place by themselves in the RMAC, the latest point in the season that the Mavericks have ever been in that position. CMU leads at 8-1, with Regis now a half-game behind at 7-1 and no other RMAC school has fewer than five losses.

Colorado Mesa has one regular season game remaining, at Westminster next Saturday, while Regis plays Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo. If both teams win their remaining games, Regis and Colorado Mesa would be regular season RMAC Co-champions at 9-1, which would be the first such honor in CMU history if it happens.

If Regis wins out, they would still host the RMAC Tournament and be the No. 1 seed thanks to a head-to-head goal differential tiebreaker (Regis beat CMU 17-11 on April 6), but the Mavericks would be able to claim a share of the regular season title if they win next week, with the potential to win it outright if Regis were to drop another game.

The Mavericks helped make this moment happen by jumping out to a 4-1 lead through the first quarter. Davis scored twice and Ali Bryant had two assists, setting up Davis once and Wentz once for the Mavs' first two goals of the game. Peyton Ivey had an unassisted strike with 32 seconds left in the opening period to make it 4-1 as Regis trailed by multiple goals for the first time in the RMAC season.

The two teams continued the defensive stalemate of sorts through the second quarter. Wentz and Regis's Bailey Truex traded free position goals while Regis's Lucy Johnson and Bryant swapped goals within the half's final two-and-a-half minutes to give CMU a 6-3 lead at halftime.

Regis trimmed the lead to 7-5 through the first five minutes of the third quarter, but CMU went on a game-defining run, ripping off four unanswered goals in a 3:30 span. Havel found the net unassisted, then assisted Kiley Davis to complete Davis's hat trick with her league-leading 48^th goal. In turn, Davis assisted Wentz on CMU's next goal, allowing Wentz to complete a hat trick. By the time Melanie Evans buried a free position shot with 5:06 to play in the third quarter, the Mavericks were rolling with an 11-5 lead, matching the six-goal margin that they lost by to Regis two weeks ago in Denver.

The Rangers showed their bona fide championship mettle, however, mounting a furious comeback and having all the momentum throughout the fourth quarter. Regis controlled 9 of 10 draws in the fourth quarter, essentially preventing CMU from ever having possession. The Rangers outscored the Mavs 7-2 in the fourth quarter, scoring with both 17 seconds and four seconds left in regulation to send a stunned Maverick team and crowd to overtime.

Despite Regis being on a roll for the previous 20 minutes, however, the Mavs got the key turnover from Scott and the winning goal from Ivey to set off wild celebrations as players, families and fans remained on the field for quite a while after the final buzzer. The Mavericks are now 9-5 overall with the 8-1 mark in RMAC play. Regis loses for the first time this season and falls to 13-1 and 7-1.