GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Set to open its 2024 season in the Show-Me State, Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse is ready to show that its breakthrough RMAC co-championship from a season ago was no fluke.

The No. 23-ranked Mavericks will get to see how they stack up against top competition right away in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend, facing No. 6 Grand Valley State on Friday at 10:00 a.m. (MT) and taking on No. 12 Maryville on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. (MT). Both games will be played on Maryville's campus.

The Mavericks are set to rely on an experienced, veteran defensive unit with an evolving group of attackers, with several offensive players from last season set to assume bigger roles.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa finished the 2023 season with an 11-6 overall record, but the Mavericks made program history at the RMAC level.

The Mavs went 9-1 in RMAC play, setting a new program record for conference winning percentage, and defeated longtime rival Regis for the first time in program history with a 14-13 overtime win at home on April 23. Prior to that victory, the Mavericks were 0-28 all-time against the Rangers and had lost 18 consecutive games against ranked opponents.

With both Regis and Colorado Mesa finishing 9-1 in conference, the Mavericks earned an RMAC regular season co-championship for the first time since founding the program in 2011. The Mavs advanced to the finals of the RMAC Tournament for the third straight season, defeating UCCS 14-6 in the semifinals before losing to Regis in the championship game, 12-4.

New Staff
Colorado Mesa will feature a shuffled coaching staff this year. After spending four years with the Mavericks as the lead assistant coach, Ashley Delaney will be a first-year head coach in 2024.

In her four years as the assistant coach, Delaney was primarily responsible for running the midfield and defense for the Mavericks, helping develop Kelsey Viger into an IWLCA First-Team All-American as CMU allowed fewer than 10 goals per game last season. Prior to CMU, Delaney coached at NCAA Division III school Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and coached at the club level in Southern California.

A new addition to the Mavs' staff in 2024 is former Maverick player Nici Boutwell as an assistant coach. Boutwell, a native of Cottonwood Heights, Utah, played in 59 games and made 40 starts as a midfielder during a five-year playing career at Colorado Mesa from 2018-2022. As a student-athlete, Boutwell was a four-time RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll selection in addition to winning Second Team All-RMAC honors in 2022.

Roster Rundown
Redshirt senior defender Kelsey Viger headlines the returners to the Maverick lineup. Viger had a breakout season in 2023, winning the RMAC Defender of the Year award in addition to making the RMAC's First Team, All-Academic Honor Roll and All-Tournament Team.

Viger became the third-ever IWLCA All-American in program history and the second-ever First Team All-American after recording 54 caused turnovers, 20 more than any other RMAC player. Viger will enter her final Maverick season ranked second in program history with 105 career caused turnovers and is 25 away from the program record. She is fourth on the program's all-time record list for career ground balls with 115.

The Maverick midfield will be led by decorated junior Ali Bryant, the RMAC Freshman and Midfielder of the Year in 2022 and a Second Team IWLCA All-Midwest Region selection in 2023. Last season, Bryant led the team with 18 assists and led all Maverick non-goaltenders with 44 ground balls. Bryant recorded 19 goals, which ranked fourth on the team.

Sophomore attacker Justine Anderson, who earned First Team All-RMAC honors as a freshman a season ago, is CMU's top returning scorer. Anderson's 27 goals and 38 points from 2023 ranked second on the team last year to former Mav Kiley Davis, who graduate transferred to Division I Lindenwood University for 2024.

With three of CMU's top five goal scorers from a season ago no longer with the team, Maverick players who had a secondary role on offense in 2023 will have the opportunity to become major contributors this season.

Sophomore Courtney Havel (14 goals, 15 assists in 2023), junior Caroline Ohngemach (15 goals, 12 assists), senior Peyton Ivey (15 goals, 11 assists) and sophomore Carson Dickey (13 goals, eight assists) could all see their numbers grow to fill the offensive void left behind by graduated Mavericks such as Davis, Regan Wentz and Melanie Evans.

Three other Maverick defenders who started all 17 games for CMU last season all return in Taylor Scott, Larkin Daly and Olivia Turk. Junior Emme Rezoski will handle the draws for CMU after tallying 65 draw controls in 2023. Maverick goaltender Shannon Murphy returns after starting all 17 games in net and recording a 9.68 goals-against average and a .419 save percentage.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa is currently ranked No. 23 in the IWLCA National Poll. With seasons well underway in other parts of the country, there have been three IWLCA polls so far this season, but the Mavs' No. 23 ranking has been unchanged in all three as CMU has yet to play a game.

The Mavericks are the second highest ranked team in the RMAC, behind No. 8 Regis. They are the fifth-highest ranked team in the Midwest Region, behind No. 6 Grand Valley State, Regis, No. 12 Maryville and No. 13 UIndy. The Mavs are scheduled to play all four of those teams throughout the regular season, including two of them this weekend.

Colorado Mesa was picked second in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, the fifth consecutive season that the Mavs have been picked to finish second. Regis, which has won the past four RMAC regular season titles (three outright and one shared with CMU), led the poll with five of six first-place votes and 25 total points. Colorado Mesa received the final first-place vote and finished the poll with 21 points. UCCS finished third in the poll with 17 total points, followed by Westminster in fourth with 12 points, CSU Pueblo in fifth with eight points and Fort Lewis in sixth with seven points.

About Grand Valley State
Ranked No. 6 in the nation, Grand Valley State will enter Friday's neutral site matchup against Colorado Mesa with a 2-0 record. The Lakers defeated Mercyhurst, who is receiving votes in the IWLCA national poll, by a 17-8 score before beating Frostburg State 12-4.

Grand Valley State is coming off a trip to the NCAA Final Four, defeating Regis and UIndy in the NCAA Tournament before losing to West Chester in the national semifinals. The Lakers finished 2023 with a 16-5 overall record and swept both the regular-season and tournament titles in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

Senior Maddy Champagne is GVSU's leading scorer with nine goals in the first two contests of 2024. Champagne, an IWLCA Second-Team All-American in 2023, tallied five goals and an assist in the season-opener against Mercyhurst before adding four goals against Frostburg State. Senior midfielder Sydney Stone and senior attacker Hailey Crittenden have six goals apiece through two games. The Lakers have split cage time between junior Kaylyn Cater (80 minutes) and sophomore Sarah Krause (40 minutes). Cater has made 10 saves against seven goals allowed while Krause has two saves against five goals allowed.

Head Coach Mackenzie Lawler is in her sixth season at Grand Valley State, with an all-time record of 66-14 heading into this weekend. Prior to GVSU, Lawler was an assistant coach at Division I Central Michigan University and the founder of Michigan Elite, one of the state's top youth lacrosse programs.

Colorado Mesa is 1-1 all-time against Grand Valley State, with both previous matchups taking place in Grand Junction. The Mavs defeated the Lakers 14-11 in 2019, the year of CMU's only NCAA tournament berth in program history. Last season, then-No. 10 Grand Valley defeated then-No. 24 CMU 13-8 in the season opener.

About Maryville
The Maryville Saints are ranked No. 12 nationally after getting out to a 5-0 start to the 2024 season. Maryville has scored goals in bunches, defeating Ashland 25-4, Findlay 25-3, Northern Michigan 25-10, Concordia-St. Paul 21-3 and Quincy 17-5 on Wednesday.

The Saints put together a 17-3 record last season, which included a win over Grand Valley State. All three of Maryville's losses came to UIndy – once in the regular season, once in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Tournament and once in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Maryville's average of 24 goals per game through the first four games of the season placed them second in all of Division II in scoring offense. Grad student attacker Sydney Tiemann has scored 30 goals in five contests, led by a nine-goal explosion against Northern Michigan, and ranks second in Division II in total goals and goals per game. Five Saints are already in double figures for goals – Jessie Hynes (21), Helen Bae (16), Chloe Elliott (14) and Kylie Pettus (10).

Head coach Melissa Gyllenborg is in her second season at Maryville and her 10^th overall season as a Division II head coach after spending eight seasons at McKendree. Gyllenborg was voted the 2023 Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year and the IWLCA Regional Coach of the Year for improving the Saints to 17-3 after the team went 4-8 the year before she was hired.

Sunday's match will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.