GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa's defense pitched a shutout when it counted, holding UCCS scoreless in the fourth quarter to lock down a 15-11 victory and remain in second place in the RMAC women's lacrosse standings.

Justine Anderson scored six goals, four in the first quarter, while Carson Dickey and Madi Kruis tallied hat tricks, with Kruis scoring three of the team's four fourth-quarter goals including the eventual game-winner. Colorado Mesa improved to 5-4 overall and 4-1 in the RMAC with Sunday's win.

The Mavericks and Mountain Lions were deadlocked for most of the contest, as the game featured nine ties and five lead changes. The two teams were even at the end of each of the first three quarters, with the opening periods ending 5-5, 8-8 and 11-11 before CMU went on a 4-0 run in the fourth quarter to end the game.

Colorado Mesa outshot UCCS 28-23 and crucially secured a 19-11 advantage in draw controls, with Emme Rezoski snaring 12 of them on her own. Shannon Murphy made five saves in goal for the Mavericks while Kelsey Viger had two caused turnovers to pull into a tie with CMU alum Olivia Hayden for the program's all-time record with 130 career caused turnovers.

Free position shots set the tone in the first quarter, with each of CMU's first three goals coming from a free position opportunity – one from Carson Dickey and two from Justine Anderson. UCCS took a 5-3 lead before Anderson scored twice more in the quarter's final two minutes to knot things up, getting one assist from Peyton Ivey and one from Caroline Ohngemach.

Ivey scored just a minute into the second quarter, but UCCS countered with two goals to retake the lead at 7-6. Anderson's fifth goal, with an assist from Carson Dickey, tied things up at 7-7 before the two teams traded goals in the final two minutes of the half to head into halftime tied at 8-8.

The teams continued to go back and forth throughout the third quarter, as UCCS took the lead twice while CMU took the lead once only for the other team to tie the score again. UCCS received four goals from Brennan Kelly, who hadn't scored all season prior to Sunday's game and knotted her first career hat trick against the Mavs.

Head coach Ashley Delaney made a key lineup change in the fourth quarter, elevating true freshman Madi Kruis from midfield to attack. Kruis, just two games removed from her first career goals and hat trick against Westminster last Friday, recorded another hat trick in just seven-and-a-half minutes of game time.

Kruis scored off an assist from Devon Morris with 7:38 left in the game after both teams went scoreless in the opening seven minutes of the final period. A minute and a half later, Kruis scored again off a pass from Justine Anderson to make it 13-11 CMU, marking the first time either team had held a lead of two goals or more since UCCS's 5-3 advantage in the first quarter.

Anderson added her second assist of the game, setting up Carson Dickey for Dickey's third goal of the game with 5:28 to play before Kruis made it a trio of hat tricks on the day by capping the scoring with 31 seconds left. Meanwhile, the Maverick defense forced four UCCS turnovers in the final period and stifled the Mountain Lions on free position shots, as UCCS went 2-for-5 in the game and 0-for-2 in the fourth quarter.

The victory maintains CMU's perfect record in the all-time series, as the Mavs are now 11-0 against the Mountain Lions. At 2-3 in the RMAC, UCCS is now in fourth place in the conference standings.

Colorado Mesa will have the second half of its four-game homestand next weekend, as the Mavs will host Fort Lewis on Friday, April 12 and CSU Pueblo two days later on Sunday.