The Mavericks hit the road Friday afternoon for an early Saturday matchup with Utah State University in Logan, Utah. The morning brought the sun, but the pitch was saturated from the sprinkler system the night before. The sloppy playing field was unforgiving for the young Mav squad and created a rough first half of play.

Coming out slow, Utah State was the first to score with an early try putting them up 5-0, minutes into the matchup. The CMU squad fielded six rookie starters and the first half saw a sluggish and reactive CMU team. It took strong leadership from the senior players, hard runs, extra won possessions and consistency for the Mavs to get onto the board. Co-Captain Carly Scheck was the first to touch down 20 minutes in and a conversion by Ellen Rickerd put CMU ahead 7-5. Ironically, this would be the go ahead try and CMU would not trail again.

Despite the lead, the quality of play was lacking. CMU had a hard time handling a wet ball, and the muddy pitch made it hard to move quickly. The pitch also stopped the successful kicking game the Mavs saw the week previously. CMU was relentless. Overcoming the challenges of the day Chloe Coop added to the Mav lead and Rickerd tacked on another conversion putting the Mavs up 14-5 into halftime. Consistent conversions was the difference between teams.

Again, USU came out in the second half with another surge and quick try closing the gap to 14-12, just eight minutes into the second half. Similarly to the first half, there was a scoring drought until Ashley Bollinger broke through on a very pretty run 28 minutes into the half. USU answered right back again keeping it close at 19-17. But the Mavs were relentless late in the match. They finished off the matchup with a beautiful team try, highlighting speed, offloads and hard running typically seen in their spring 7s season.

CMUs grit and resiliency continues to shine bright late in matches. Allowing CMU to pull off the win in the second match of the season. Showing a brilliant piece of play late gives hope that the Mavs have the ability to play great rugby. This week the team will work on gaining confidence, expanding their rugby IQ and building on their foundation so they will be better prepared for a seasoned CSU team.
 
Final score from Logan 26-17. The Mavericks return home Sat. Oct. 5^th to host Colorado State University. 

Trys
Ashley Bollinger
Chloe Coop 
Carly Scheck (2)
 
Conversions:
Ellen Rickerd 3