GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – After testing themselves against top-12 opposition to open the season, Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse will begin the 2024 RMAC season against a pair of in-state opponents.

The Mavericks will travel to Durango to face Fort Lewis on Friday at 3 p.m. before heading over to face CSU Pueblo on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa suffered a pair of losses to nationally ranked opponents in its first two games of 2024, losing 9-3 to No. 6 Grand Valley State and losing 18-8 to No. 12 Maryville.

RECAPS: Grand Valley State | Maryville

Caroline Ohngemach scored all three of CMU's goals against GVSU and added another against Maryville while Ali Bryant scored twice against Maryville. Goalie Shannon Murphy made 15 saves across the two games.

Strong Starts
Colorado Mesa's defense performed well in the two games, holding both nationally ranked opponents well under their season averages. The Maverick defense held Grand Valley State to nine goals (the Lakers average 12 per game) and held Maryville to 18 goals (the Saints entered the matchup with CMU averaging 21.6 per game).

Kelsey Viger and Larkin Daly both have three caused turnovers through two games, while Olivia Turk has two. Viger, Daly, Turk and Ali Bryant are all co-team leaders with three ground balls.

Caroline Ohngemach currently leads the team with four goals, scoring three of them against Grand Valley State. Ohngemach now has five hat tricks in her career. The junior leads the team with seven shots on goal and ranks second on the team with eight total shots.

Behind Ohngemach, Ali Bryant and Justine Anderson have three points apiece. Bryant tallied two goals against Maryville and an assist against Grand Valley State. Anderson, a sophomore, has a team-high two assists with one in each game this season, also scoring once against Maryville. Anderson leads the team with nine shots and has put four of them on goal.

Tipping Point
Friday's match marks an interesting inflection point in the all-time series between the Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis women's lacrosse programs.

Early on in the history of CMU's program, Fort Lewis dominated the matchup. The Skyhawks won the first 11 meetings between 2011-2015, spanning 10 RMAC games and one RMAC Tournament game. On March 26, 2016, Colorado Mesa beat the Skyhawks for the first time in a narrow 8-6 victory, and that completely changed the tide of the series.

From 2016 to 2023, Colorado Mesa has now won 11 meetings in a row, including 19-7 and 10-8 wins last year. The all-time series between the two schools is now tied at 11-11 and the Mavericks have the opportunity to take the lead in the all-time series for the first time with another win this Friday.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa is currently receiving votes in the IWLCA national poll. The Mavericks initially dropped from their preseason ranking of No. 23 to No. 25 after their two losses to higher-ranked opponents, then fell out of the rankings after not playing last weekend.

RMAC rival Regis has moved up to No. 5 in the national poll and is currently the only ranked RMAC team. Colorado Mesa's two opponents have also moved around in the rankings, as 7-0 Maryville is now ranked No. 9 and Grand Valley State is ranked No. 12 after Maryville beat Grand Valley State 7-6 on March 6.

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 Fort Lewis
Fort Lewis is 0-1 so far in 2024, suffering an 18-8 neutral site loss to Concordia-St. Paul in Colorado Springs back on March 8. The Skyhawks were picked sixth and last in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll despite finishing fifth last year with a 3-7 RMAC record. The Skyhawks were 3-10 overall in 2023.

Senior attacker Haley Dostie returns to the Skyhawks after scoring 45 goals (fifth-most in the RMAC) and seven assists last season to lead the conference with 4.0 points per game. Dostie ranked third in the RMAC with 88 total shots and 6.77 shots per game. Dostie had a quiet day against Concordia-St. Paul, finishing scoreless with one assist on two shots while collecting three ground balls.

Senior Ellie Martinez, last year's second-leading scorer with 15 goals, scored a hat-trick against CSP for the Skyhawks. Martinez leads this year's squad with five shots and four shots on goal. The Skyhawks split their opening game in the cage between junior Caley Lay (one save, eight goals allowed) and freshman Olivia Tilbury (six saves, 10 goals allowed).

Head coach Ashley Travis is in his fifth season at Fort Lewis. She is 15-30 overall and 14-19 in the RMAC during her tenure at Fort Lewis. Prior to coming to Durango, Travis spent three years at Heidelberg University (Division III), including two years as a head coach.

Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis are tied 11-11 in the all-time series. Last season, the Mavericks won 19-7 in Grand Junction and 10-8 in Durango.  

About CSU Pueblo
CSU Pueblo is 2-2 overall this season. The ThunderWolves will have their RMAC opener against Westminster this Friday before playing the Mavericks on Sunday. The ThunderWolves were picked to finish fifth in the RMAC this season after finishing 1-13 overall and 0-10 in the RMAC last year.

The ThunderWolves have been much more competitive in 2024, losing 11-9 to Findlay and 13-9 to Dominican (California). CSU Pueblo will enter the weekend on a two-game win streak after beating Lake Erie College 17-9 and Tiffin University 23-11.

Grad student midfielder Caira Lessick leads the way offensively with 17 goals and two assists, including 10 goals on 10 shots against Tiffin. Sophomore Elise Magee has 11 goals and four assists while freshman midfielder Reese Wasmund and senior midfielder Baylee Mee have eight goals apiece. Freshman goalie Breonna Mason has allowed 35 goals against 36 saves in four matches.

CSU Pueblo head coach Taylor (Christensen) Ward served as the program's interim coach last season but has had that designation removed for this year. Ward is a CSUP alum and ranks second on the school's all-time lists with 108 goals and 142 points while leading in ground balls (191), draw controls (224) and caused turnovers (113).

Colorado Mesa has never lost to CSU Pueblo, accumulating an all-time 15-0 record against the Pack. Additionally, the Mavericks have scored double-digit goals in every contest against the ThunderWolves. Last season, the Mavericks won 20-5 in Grand Junction and 19-1 in Pueblo.

Coach's Corner
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.