GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa women's lacrosse marked Senior Day with a win over their local rivals, defeating Westminster 11-4 to complete the RMAC regular season.
Justine Anderson scored four goals and
Carson Dickey added three while
Elizabeth Renken tallied three assists as CMU improved to 10-5 overall and 8-2 in the RMAC. The Mavericks will be the No. 2 seed in the RMAC Tournament next week, hosted by Regis in Denver, and face No. 3 UCCS in the semifinals.
Although the Mavs honored seven seniors before the game, underclassmen starred as a pair of sophomores in Anderson and Dickey combined for seven goals while a pair of juniors in
Ali Bryant and
Caroline Ohngemach found the net. Among graduating players,
Peyton Ivey and
Amber Wennerstrom scored one goal apiece while Renken was the team's primary distributor with her three assists.
The Mavericks took 33 shots to Westminster's 30 but put 23 of those shots on target compared to just 15 for the visitors. The Mavs had 29 ground balls to the Griffins' 20 and won despite Westminster's 11-7 advantage on draw controls.
Both goalies were on their game, as Westminster's Gabriella Cheminant finished with 12 saves while CMU's
Shannon Murphy finished with 11 saves for her second straight game with double-digit saves and fourth game overall this season with 10 or more.
Anderson scored twice within the first minute-and-a-half of the game before Renken set up Dickey and Wennerstrom to give CMU a 4-1 lead. The Griffins scored back-to-back goals to come within one, but Dickey scored again before Anderson completed her hat trick with her 50
th goal of the season to send CMU to halftime with a 6-3 lead.
Westminster accumulated nine green cards during Sunday's game, and the Mavericks were able to convert two woman-up goals in the second half.
Caroline Ohngemach converted off of Renken's third assist just two-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter while
Peyton Ivey also scored with an assist from
Courteney Murray while the Mavs had an extra player.
Senior
Larkin Daly had a game-high and career-high four caused turnovers along with two ground balls for the Mavericks. Senior
Marley Strasters started the first game of her career on defense and came from with a ground ball and caused turnover while also carrying over some successful clears.
The RMAC Tournament will take place next weekend, with the semifinals on Friday, May 3 and the championship game on Sunday, May 5 if the Mavs advance. Regis will host the tournament as the conference's top seed. Times are still TBA.