Grand Junction, Colo. – After starting their season with a 1-1 draw on the road, the Mavs will continue the trend of playing away as they now find themselves in a new location when they head to Salt Lake City this weekend for a couple of non-conference games.
CMU will take on opponents Northwest Nazarene University and Cal State Monterey Bay during their trip. The Mavs will face NNU on Thursday Sept. 12 at 4:00 p.m. before finishing their weekend against CSMB on Saturday Sept. 14 at noon. Both games will take place at Westminster University on Dumke Field.
Starting this week on Monday for their season opener, CMU faced off with South Central Region opponent Saint Mary's University where they finished in a 1-1 draw.
In their match, the Mavs were led by junior Matheus Lazzuri who scored the first goal of the season. His goal in the 47th minute of their match gave CMU the initial lead before StMU tied the score in the final minutes to end the day with a draw.
Lazzuri's goal was the second of his career after scoring only one last season. His goal on Monday would be assisted by freshman Matteo Bonelli, who earned his first college assist and point thanks to Lazzuri's goal.
In addition to Bonelli, two other freshmen would make their collegiate debuts against StMU with both Jaxson Dowling and Tommaso Ferrara seeing action.
After one match this year the Mavs have taken 16 shots with four of them being on target. Marc Bonafe leads the team with four shots himself and one being on target.
Goalkeeper Diego Chavez has recorded six saves while facing 24 shots against him. He currently holds a .857 save percentage while only allowing one goal on the season.
The Mav's first opponent they play this weekend, Northwest Nazarene University, is currently 0-1-1 on the season after starting their year at the CSU Pueblo Kickoff. In their matches they would fare a 1-1 draw with Jessup University before falling to #2 CSU Pueblo 2-0. Senior Johnny Ramirez has the only goal for the Nighthawks this season as his only shot on goal has found the net. Following the Nighthawks' match against the Mavs they will play fellow RMAC opponent Westminster on Sept. 14.
The Mav's final opponent, Cal State Monterey Bay, is 1-0 on the season as they have won their only match thus far. Their win would come from a 3-1 victory over the Academy of Art on Sept. 5. Three different players have scored for the Otters this season with Cameron Belandres, Ronaldo Guardarrama and Alexis Sanchez each having scored one goal apiece. Belandres' goal would serve as the game-winner in their match. CSMB will play Westminster as well on Sept. 12 before their match against the Mavs on Saturday.
Both matches can be watched on the RMAC Network and will have live stats to follow along with. Both links can be found in the schedule section.
