GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's soccer will begin their 2023 season this weekend with a pair of in-region nonconference games in Salt Lake City.

The Mavericks will open the year against Texas A&M International on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. before facing No. 18 Midwestern State on Saturday at noon. Those are the same two opponents that CMU played on the opening weekend of the 2022 season in Texas. Both of this year's matches will take place on Westminster's campus in Utah, with the Griffins also playing both Texas schools in inverse order.

After the two neutral site matches, the Mavericks will host the Colorado Mesa Men's Soccer Showcase from September 7-9 at Community Hospital Unity Field, welcoming Northwest Nazarene and Eastern New Mexico as well as Westminster, who will play neutral site contests against both visiting schools in Grand Junction.

Starting Point
Colorado Mesa opened the 2022 season at Texas A&M International, playing the same two programs that they will face this weekend.

Midwestern State, then ranked No. 22, tallied an important 3-2 victory over the ninth-ranked Mavericks in last year's season opener, an important first step in a season that saw the Mustangs win the Lone Star Conference Tournament and beat four ranked opponents and the start of a season in which CMU slipped to a seventh-place RMAC finish.

The tables will be turned this time in terms of pressure, with Midwestern State entering this year's matchup with a No. 18 national ranking while the Mavs are unranked nationally. Texas A&M International will be revenge-minded after losing to CMU 1-0 on their home field last season.

Meet the Mavs
The Mavericks will hope for continued development and better health for several of their returning key contributors.

Top returners include forward Manuel Ponce Casas, who led the team with seven goals last season as a true freshman, RMAC All-Conference Honorable Mention defender and redshirt senior Raymond Jackson and a full season in goal from redshirt sophomore Diego Chavez, who had a 0.94 goals-against average in five starts at the end of last season.

Ponce Casas will be joined in attack by redshirt sophomores Fernando Morales (five goals, one assist, 3-for-3 PK), Joey Joiner (three goals and three assists) and Moses Magens (four points in 11 games). Redshirt junior Alec Fronapfel also returns with a nine-goal season from 2021 on his resume.

Much of the midfield could run through the sophomore Brazilian duo of Matheus Lazzuri and Diogo Silva (team-high four assists in 2022). Redshirt sophomore Leo Mireles (10 career assists) can also be a dangerous playmaker.

Jackson and Chavez will bring veteran leadership to a defensive unit that may have some new faces. After being limited to five games last season due to injury, redshirt sophomore Felipe Busellini should be a larger part of plans this season if healthy. The team needs to replace the graduated back line duo of Jorge Rodriguez and Isa Trujillo and could turn to Western Texas College transfer and Greece native Dimitrios Leonoglou or freshman defenders Diego Medina and Dylan Hobson.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish fourth in the preseason Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coaches Poll, garnering 64 total points.

CSU Pueblo finished atop the poll with 97 points and seven of 11 first-place votes. Colorado School of Mines received 86 points and two first-place votes after winning the RMAC regular season and tournament titles last year, with UCCS just behind with 83 points and one first-place vote. Regis garnered the final first-place vote, but still finished just behind the Mavericks in fifth with 62 total points.

After advancing to the NCAA national championship game last season, CSU Pueblo opens the season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches Pre-Season Poll. Mines is the other ranked RMAC team, slotting in at No. 21 overall.

About Texas A&M International
Texas A&M International will open their 2023 season against CMU after finishing 2022 with a 3-9-6 overall record. The Dustdevils finished 10^th and last in the Lone Star Conference with a 1-6-2 conference record.

The Dustdevils should be a team on the rise, however, as they were recently picked eighth out of 10 in this year's Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll. TAMIU also showed an ability to rise to the occasion last year, as despite their 3-9-6 overall record they went 1-2-2 against teams that were nationally ranked or receiving votes.

The team will return a pair of Second Team All-Conference players in senior Lassana Diakite (team-high five goals) and senior Jordan Mase (two goals, three assists). A third returning senior, attacker Tajani Fairclough, scored four goals and added three assists to tie with Diakite for the team lead with 11 points. One of Fairclough's four goals was the game-winner in an upset road win over then-No. 18 Midwestern State last season. The Dustdevils are also counting on big things from a couple newcomers, with freshman forward Felipe Garcia and freshman goalkeeper Gal Grodeski selected among the LSC's Players to Watch.

While last season was a mostly forgettable one for TAMIU, they have had a good program history under longtime coach Claudio Arias, entering his 18^th season with the Dustdevils. Under Arias, the Dustdevils won three Heartland Conference regular season championships, including back-to-to back titles in 2010 and 2011, and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 2019.

This will be the third consecutive season that Colorado Mesa and Texas A&M International have faced off, which are the only three meetings in history between the two schools. The Mavericks have been victorious in the first two, both by 1-0 scores. Alec Fronapfel scored an overtime game-winner for CMU in 2021 while Manuel Ponce Casas netted a 35^th-minute goal to provide the difference in last year's 1-0 CMU win.

About Midwestern State
Midwestern State will enter Saturday's matchup with CMU ranked No. 18 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll after a 13-6-3 record during the 2022 season that included a victory in the Lone Star Conference Tournament and a run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Mustangs were picked second in the recent Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll, receiving three of 30 first-place votes. Midwestern State was fifth last year in the conference standings but reeled off three wins to win the conference tournament, including a win over national No. 5-ranked St. Mary's in the title game.

Midwestern State returns a variety of impact returners, starting with All-American forward Mere Escobar, who led the Lone Star with 11 goals and 28 points. Senior defender Tristian Adams was an All-South Central Region first team pick and added three goals on the offensive end. Junior goalie Adam Braman finished the season with an 0.87 goals-against average and a .750 save percentage. All three were named LSC Players to Watch ahead of the 2023 season.
Midwestern State is coached by Michael Meachum, entering his sixth year in charge. Meachum won Lone Star Coach of the Year honors in 2021 and has led the Mustangs to an NCAA Tournament win in four consecutive seasons.

The NCAA Tournament has been the site of most of the clashes between MSU and CMU. Five of the eight previous meetings between the two schools have come in the NCAA Tournament, as the teams clashed in the postseason in five straight seasons from 2014-2018. In the most recent meeting on November 11, 2018, the teams were locked in a scoreless draw for 120 minutes before then-No. 25 CMU upset then-No. 6 MSU on penalty kicks to advance to the NCAA Regional championship.

Midwestern State's 3-2 win last season was the first meeting since that 2018 battle and the only meeting since Jon Fridal took over as head coach of the Mavs.

Coach's Corner
Mavericks head coach Jon Fridal begins his fourth season at Colorado Mesa in 2023. He has already earned conference and regional coaching honors and taken the Mavericks to national success.

In his first year, played in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mavs went 6-1-1, including 5-0-1 in conference play, as Fridal took home RMAC Coach of the Year honors, becoming the second coach in the history of the program to do so.

In his first full campaign in the fall of 2021, Fridal led the Mavericks to a 16-4-2 record, a second-place RMAC regular-season finish, an RMAC Tournament title and a win in the NCAA Tournament. That led to a top-10 national preseason ranking for the team entering the 2022 season.

Along with assistant coach Brandon Bautista, Fridal was honored as the United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional Staff of the Year in 2021.