GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa fell 1-0 to a nationally-ranked team for the second straight game, coming up short against No. 22 Northwest Nazarene in the 2023 home opener from Community Hospital Unity Field.

Forward Jim Wagenaar scored just 3:20 into the match for NNU, the true freshman's third goal in as many college matches. After that goal, however, the Mavericks had the statistical edge – outshooting NNU 21-16, putting six shots on goal to NNU's four and only committing two fouls to NNU's 12.

Despite forcing Nighthawks goalkeeper Sawyer Price to make five of his six saves in the second half, the Mavericks were unable to find a breakthrough goal and will drop to 1-2 with the loss.
Goalkeeper Diego Chavez made three saves, running his season total to 12 against only two goals conceded from open play. Chavez was nearly the unlikeliest of offensive heroes, as the redshirt sophomore came forward for a 90^th-minute corner kick and had a free header which barely whiskered over the crossbar with 59 seconds to play.

Northwest Nazarene jumped all over the Mavs from the opening whistle, taking two shots in the opening 90 seconds. The Nighthawks' counter press gave the Mavericks some issues in the early part of the game and one instance of NNU winning the ball back gave Raoul Barragan an easy through ball to Wagenaar, who slotted home under Chavez into the bottom right corner in just the fourth minute.

The Mavericks seemed to be on the back foot throughout most of the first half but came back out of the locker room in the second half having figured out a way to dictate the tempo offensively and clog up the Nighthawk passing lanes defensively. The Mavs outshot Northwest Nazarene 13-7 in the second half and forced Price to make five saves, which seemed to each be progressively more impressive than the last.

Price came sprinting out of his net and used a full-extension dive to rob Alec Fronapfel of a potential equalizer in the 76^th minute. Fronapfel forced another save from Price three minutes later and evaded the Nighthawks goalkeeper towards an open net but had his shot blocked by a defender in the 81^st minute.

Fronapfel, Manuel Ponce Casas and Matheus Lazzuri led the Mavs with three shots apiece while Joao Pedro Moraes, Fernando Morales and Dylan Hobson each had two. Both shots for Hobson, a freshman from New Zealand, came on free kick attempts. The center back curled a low shot around the wall into the side netting in the 25^th minute and fired a long-distance attempt directly into Price's chest in the 66^th minute.

Alan Soto Ortiz (five shots) and Johnny Ramirez (three shots) were the offensive leaders for Northwest Nazarene.

The Mavericks will have an opportunity to rebound on Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Eastern New Mexico. The Greyhounds battled to a 3-3 draw with Westminster earlier Thursday afternoon at Community Hospital Unity Field. Westminster will face Northwest Nazarene at 4 p.m. Saturday, immediately preceding CMU's game.