Grand Junction, Colo. - The Colorado Mesa University Men's Soccer Team would use a 4-0 shutout this evening to find their first win of conference play this season in a takedown of the Cougars of Colorado Christian University on Community Hospital Unity Field.
Following this win the Mavs earned their first win since they defeated Simon Fraser University on Sept. 21 in a 5-0 decision. They have gone 0-4-1 in their last five matches coming into tonight's match.
CMU now boasts a record of 4-6-2 and are 1-3-1 in the RMAC. Colorado Christian drops to 3-4-6 and are 1-3-1 in the RMAC now.
The group of Marc Bonafe, Riccardo Legnante, Matteo Bonelli and Shane Bryan would all score goals as this is the Mavs' second highest scoring game of the season. Bonafe now has four goals on the year and Bonelli has three to be ranked first and second on the team.
Legnante would score the first goal of the night as he made the game 1-0 in the 23rd minute. His game-winning goal would come on cross from teammate Isaac Zamora to which he would then flick into the back of the net. This is both Legnante's first goal of the year and Zamora's first assist of the year.
Colorado Christian would present their hardest challenge of the night in the 36th minute on two shots within the penalty box, but reigning RMAC Goalkeepr of the Year, Diego Chavez, would show off some incredible skills as he saved the back-to-back shots by the Cougars. He would dive to save the first shot by Drew Brown before flicking away the second attempt by Arthur Santana as he was laying down.
Bonafe would respond to the Cougar's challenge and be involved in the scoring next when he notched a goal just minutes before half time. In the 43rd minute, the Mavs were granted a corner kick and Matheus Lazzuri would elect to do the cross towards the box. In his ensuing cross the ball would find Bonafe who would then drill it into the back right corner of the net. Lazzuri earned the assist on his long pass across field.
Less than 10 minutes later, Bonelli would score a goal of his own as he was assisted by the familiar faces of Legnante and Bonafe. On his goal, Bonafe would launch a pass into the penalty area where Legnante would then flip the ball over to Bonelli for a shot that was less than five feet from the corner of the net.
As if the 3-0 lead wasn't enough for the Mavs, they would score once more later in the game as Shane Bryan got his first goal of the season in the 72nd minute. Similar to how Bonafe's goal came earlier in the match, Lazzuri would take a corner kick for the Mavs to inside the penalty box to which Bryan would head into the right side of the net for the 4-0 lead and eventual ending score.
In total the Mavs took 11 shots on the night with nine of them being on goal. Bonelli lead the team with three shots himself. Lazzuri would have two assists in the game, both his first and second of the season.
Diego Chavez would record his third shutout of the season and his first in conference play thus far. On the night he had six saves, with five of them coming in the first half. He would face 11 shots and outplay the Cougars goalkeeping crew who only recorded five saves and gave up four goals.
Tonight's match was the Mavs only contest of this week, but they will return to the pitch this next weekend when they host two more home matches against opponents UCCS and CSU Pueblo on Thursday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Oct. 27. Tickets can be purchased online at cmumavericks.com/tickets.
