ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – With the score tied at halftime, Colorado Mesa men's lacrosse outscored Lewis 5-0 in the third quarter to take control and seize a much-needed 13-6 victory over the Flyers on Sunday in Illinois.
James Steinke scored four goals, three of which came during the key third quarter stretch, and added three assists. Steinke tied single-game career highs with both his four goals (matching his four in last year's RMAC Championship game against Westminster) and seven points (matching a two-goal, five-assist performance against Westminster on February 27, 2022).
Hunter Holcomb scored twice for the Mavericks, who also received a single goal from seven players –
JJ Brummett,
Dillon Pless,
Ethan Points,
Shawn Ferguson,
Deuce Kirschke,
Levi McCoy and
Micah Payton.
Mac Bayless, making his first start of the season in the cage for CMU, tied a career-high himself with 14 saves in a winning effort. Bayless is now 9-0 as a starting goalie in his collegiate career.
Neither offense got much going in the first half, with Colorado Mesa leading 2-1 after one quarter and Lewis returning the favor by outscoring the Mavs 2-1 in the second quarter to send the two teams to the sidelines at halftime all knotted up at 3-3.
In the third quarter, the Mavericks immediately turned to Steinke, who scored in a man-up situation 17 seconds into the second half and then again just over two minutes later. After Ferguson and Kirschke added goals, Steinke completed his third quarter hat trick with another man-up goal to make it 8-3 Mavs with 3:26 left in the third period.
The Mavericks dominated extra man opportunity situations on both sides to pull away further. After Lewis cut the lead to 9-5, a major penalty on
Caden Hathaway put CMU a man down for two minutes. Lewis was unable to convert the EMO before
Levi McCoy wriggled his way out of a double team to score shorthanded and put the Mavs up 10-5.
Soon after,
Micah Payton tallied a man-up goal to expand CMU's lead to six before Holcomb's second and Steinke's fourth with 1:48 left in the game sealed it. The Mavericks won the turnover battle, forcing 20 turnovers while committing just nine.
Challenges await next weekend for Colorado Mesa as the Mavs prepare for a high-stakes trip to Florida next weekend. The Mavericks will face nationally-ranked Tampa next Saturday, March 16, nationally-ranked Florida Southern the following Tuesday and Flager on Thursday, March 21.
