GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Dylan Checketts led a strong Maverick showing from the faceoff circle and accumulated double-digit ground balls on the weekend to earn his first RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award of the season.

Checketts tallied a game-high six ground balls while going 8-for-10 from the "X" against Adams State before adding five ground balls and nine faceoff wins against CSU Pueblo. Led by Checketts, the Mavericks held a 40-22 faceoff edge and recorded 96 ground balls to their opponents' 51 over CMU's undefeated weekend. The Mavs held a pair of conference opponents to single-digit goals as they won an RMAC regular season co-championship and clinched the No. 1 seed in this weekend's conference tournament.

The weekly award is the first of the season for the highly decorated Checketts, who earned three RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honors in each of the previous two seasons. One of the best faceoff men in Maverick history, Checketts currently ranks second all-time with a .672 career faceoff winning percentage and is second all-time with 349 ground balls, 38 behind alum Michael Marino for the program's all-time record. This season, Checketts ranks third in the RMAC with 63 ground balls.

With the men's lacrosse regular season over, the Mavericks combined to bring in five Player of the Week awards across the eight weeks they were awarded. The Mavericks took home four Defensive Player of the Week awards, double the amount of any other RMAC program.

The postseason begins this weekend with the RMAC Tournament at Community Hospital Unity Field, with semifinals at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Top-seeded Colorado Mesa will play No. 4 seed Adams State in the second semifinal at 7 p.m. If the Mavericks win, they will face the winner of Westminster and CUI in the RMAC Championship game on Saturday at 5 p.m.