GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – After two home wins secured an undefeated regular season, Colorado Mesa men's lacrosse has earned the right to host the RMAC Tournament at Community Hospital Unity Field this upcoming Thursday and Friday.

The No. 13-ranked Mavericks have secured the tournament's top seed and will lead things off Thursday afternoon by taking on No. 4 seed Adams State on Thursday at 4 p.m., before No. 2 seed Westminster plays No. 3 seed CSU Pueblo shortly afterwards at 7 p.m. The two semifinal winners will then face off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night for the RMAC Championship.

Colorado Mesa will be seeking to win its fifth RMAC Tournament title out of seven total tournaments held. The Mavericks will also be watching scores from conference tournaments around the country, with CMU firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament ahead of Selection Sunday this weekend.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa finished the regular season with all the momentum, taking care of business against CSU Pueblo and Adams State to finish the RMAC season at 6-0, winning both matches by a combined 42 goals.

RECAP: CSU Pueblo | Adams State

The Maverick offense got better as it went along against CSU Pueblo, scoring four in the first quarter, five in the second quarter, six in the third and seven in the fourth quarter, with JJ Brummett and James Steinke scoring hat tricks to lead the way in a 22-3 win. The Mavs then got five goals apiece from Jed Brummett and Erich Petersen against Adams State and set season records for goals scored (27) and margin of victory (23).

Class of the RMAC
Colorado Mesa likely enters the conference tournament as favorites after going undefeated in conference play and earning the right to host. On the way to a 6-0 start in the RMAC, the Mavericks have both scored and defended at an extremely high level throughout the 2023 season.

The Mavericks have the top four points scorers in the conference with AJ Switzer (73), Jed Brummett (57), Drew Eickelman (50) and James Steinke (50) leading the conference's scoring charts. The Mavs also have five of the RMAC's top eight goalscorers in Jed Brummett (54, first), Switzer (37, second), Steinke (29, third), Drew Eickelman (23, sixth) and JJ Brummett (22, eighth).

Switzer also leads the conference with 36 assists and has a nine-point lead over teammate Drew Eickelman for the most in the RMAC. Steinke (21) and Sal Iaria (20) also have more assists than the top non-CMU player, Westminster's Skylar Weathers with 14.

In team statistics, Colorado Mesa has scored 298 goals, 101 more than any other RMAC team, and 183 assists, 87 more than any other school. The Mavs are taking an average of 12 more shots and 6.8 more shots on goal than any other school in the conference.

Having scored 298 times while conceding just 131, the Mavericks are outscoring opponents by an average of 10.4 goals per game. Westminster is the only other team with a positive scoring margin at +2.5 per game, with Adams State and CSU Pueblo being outscored by eight goals or more per game.

Previewing the Competition
Adams State
Adams State will be CMU's first-round opponent as the No. 4 seed, which will be the second consecutive meeting between the Grizzlies and Mavericks. Colorado Mesa defeated ASU 22-3 in Alamosa on April 14 and 27-4 in Grand Junction last Sunday. The Grizzlies are 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the RMAC, defeating NAIA opponent Missouri Baptist and winning one of two meetings against CSU Pueblo.

The Grizzlies have scored 64 goals and allowed 135 this season. They are taking 28.2 shots per game compared to their opponents, who shoot 42.8 shots per game against the ASU defense. The Grizzlies win 33.6 percent of their faceoffs and have a 16 percent man up opportunity conversion percentage.

Individually, the scoring for Adams State has been a combination of juniors Tyler Hubbard and Dawson Balabanoff and graduate student Travis Brave Heart, who all have accumulated exactly 12 goals and four assists so far this season. Hubbard has been the most efficient of the three, getting his 12 goals in 33 shots, 28 of which were on target, while Balabanoff and Brave Heart have each taken 44 shots.

Matthew Lash has six assists and is the only player with more than ASU's trio with four apiece. The team has split goalie time between a pair of freshmen in Ryan Burger and Jamison Blackwell. Berger has appeared in all nine games, making 75 saves while allowing 100 goals for a .429 save percentage. Blackwell has played in six games, starting three, and has allowed 35 goals compared to 28 saves. Over half of Blackwell's goals allowed (18) came in his only appearance against Colorado Mesa. To date, Burger has 372 minutes in the cage for the Grizzlies while Blackwell has seen 157 minutes of action.

CSU Pueblo
CSU Pueblo is 1-12 overall and 1-5 in the RMAC. The ThunderWolves will be the No. 3 seed in the tournament, edging out Adams State on goal differential tiebreaker, as they beat the Grizzlies 11-6 on April 1 and lost by only a one-goal margin, 9-8, to the Grizzlies on April 22. CSU Pueblo lost 22-1 and 25-11 in its opening two games this year against first-round opponent Westminster.

CSU Pueblo has scored 84 goals and allowed 204. Opponents are outshooting the ThunderWolves 616-333. The ThunderWolves are winning 33.7 percent of their faceoffs and converting 77.7 percent of their clear attempts.

Freshman attacker Lane Lessley has impressed for CSU Pueblo this season, scoring 19 goals with eight assists to have the most points out of anyone this season outside the RMAC's traditional top two teams. Seniors Logan Naves (14 goals, 12 assists) and Ian Noonan (five goals, 10 assists) are the team's primary playmakers while freshman Nathan Liderman (13 goals, three assists) gives CSUP a secondary scoring punch.

Goaltender Ethan Ferrie has been carrying the ThunderWolves throughout the season, leading the RMAC in total saves (203) and ranking second in save percentage (.525). In CSU Pueblo's most recent game against Colorado Mesa, Ferrie set a school record with 29 saves against the Mavericks in a 22-3 loss.

Westminster
Westminster will be the No. 2 seed after going 4-2 in RMAC play, while the Griffins are 7-7 overall. In conference, Westminster has only lost to CMU twice, by a 23-8 score in Grand Junction and a narrow 14-13 contest in Salt Lake City. The Griffins have won their four matches against first-round opponent CSU Pueblo and No. 4 seed Adams State by an average of 17 goals per game.

Westminster has scored 163 goals and has given up 145. The Griffins are placing 65 percent of their totals shots on goal and convert 43 percent of their man-up opportunities. Westminster wins 56 percent of its faceoffs, has succeeded on 81 percent of its clear attempts and has scooped 399 ground balls to their opponents' 358.

The Griffins have a potent attack led by senior Merritt McMahon (27 goals, five assists), and talented freshman Luke Sillstrop (26 goals, two assists). Junior midfielder Joseph Celentano (22 goals, four assists) gives the Griffins three 20-goal scorers while midfielders Skyler Weathers (14 assists), Mike Spaeth (13) and Andrew Thomas (12) have double-digit assist totals.

Jacob Miller has been the primary goaltender for Westminster, appearing in the cage for 619 minutes this season and starting all 12 games. Miller has allowed 127 goals while making 121 saves for a .488 save percentage and a 12.31 goals against average.

Regional Rankings
Unfortunately, results elsewhere around the country over the past week were not good news for CMU's hopes of being selected to the NCAA Tournament.

Colorado Mesa came in at No. 7 in the latest NCAA South Region rankings, falling a spot from No. 6. The slide was due to previous No. 7 Limestone defeating three nationally ranked teams on a run to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament title, including regional No. 2 Wingate and regional No. 4 Lenoir-Rhyne.

The top six teams from the region are selected to the NCAA Tournament. CMU currently trails Rollins, Wingate, Tampa, Lenoir-Rhyne, UIndy and Limestone. The Mavericks have beaten regional No. 1 Rollins, and are the only team to do so this season, but they have lost to regional No. 3 Tampa, a team which has lost to Rollins and regional No. 8 Florida Southern.

With no nationally ranked teams or teams above .500 on its remaining schedule, Colorado Mesa is likely left needing a team above them to be upset by a lower ranked team to move up the rankings. According to the USILA poll, the Mavericks are ranked No. 13 in the country, which also leaves them just barely on the outside looking in to the 12-team NCAA Tournament field at the moment.

Breakout Game
Freshman attacker Erich Petersen had shown promising signs throughout a few appearances late in the 2023 season, but his performance against Adams State has to be considered a breakout game.

Erich, who joined his brother Philip Petersen on the CMU roster, didn't appear in a collegiate game until the April 1 home opener against Westminster. The Gypsum, Colorado native scored his first collegiate goal on April 14 against Adams State, taking four shots with two on frame. He then saw action during both games against CSU Pueblo, tallying his second goal and first assist in the second matchup with the ThunderWolves.

Petersen's good day began when he scored a true hat trick, netting three consecutive goals in the span of little over a minute near the end of the first half. Petersen scored unassisted with 1:20 left to play, netted another off a pass from Drew Eickelman with 15 seconds left, then watched Kanyan Rhodes win the ensuing faceoff, rush down the field and pass to Petersen for another goal just six seconds later, with nine seconds left in the half. That scoring outburst put CMU up 18-3 at the break and ensured that Petersen more than doubled his career scoring total in just over 70 seconds.

Petersen was not done, however, receiving an assist from his brother Philip Petersen with 8:53 left in the third quarter and scoring his fifth goal three minutes to put the Mavs up 23-4 in a game they would eventually win by a 27-4 margin. Erich and Philip become the second pair of siblings to link up for a goal/assist combination this season, with JJ Brummett having set up his older brother Jed Brummett twice.

Head Honcho
The 2022-23 season will be the first in charge for new head coach Troy Moyer, who has served as an assistant at CMU since the 2019 season.

Former head coach Vince Smith resigned to pursue other opportunities after winning his third RMAC Coach of the Year award in 2022. Moyer was named the interim head coach after Smith's departure on July 13 and was hired as the permanent head coach on September 30. Moyer retained all current players through the coaching transition.

With Moyer as an assistant coach, Colorado Mesa has won two regular season RMAC titles and the RMAC Tournament Championship last season. Prior to Colorado Mesa, Moyer coached at Division III Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, his home state. He played Division I Lacrosse at Sacred Heart University.