Despite graduating seven, the Colorado Mesa Mavericks were able to shine bright in their fall 15s season opener. Coming out of a successful 2023-24 season in Division I, the team had to fill some massive holes. CMU started six rookies on Saturday. The Mavericks kicked off this season with a cross-division matchup against former foe Colorado School of Mines.
 
With the new season, came a new governing body as the Rocky Mountain Rugby league transitioned to High Peaks Conference under the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) governing body this summer. This transition brought back crossover matches with teams that have not been played against in recent years. 

CMU started the fireworks off early with a massive dash along the outside by freshmen speedster Chloe Coop. Coop outran the defense all the way to the try line to put CMU on the board at the 14-minute marker. Ellen Rickerd and her solid kicking would add on the additional conversion points. With hard crashes, big runs, and huge tackles the young CMU team lead with heart and grit. Senior co-captain Zelly Moore added to the action with a dashing run of her own weaving in and out of defenders. Rickerd converted another kick making the CMU lead 14-0. 

Roughly 35 minutes into the matchup, freshmen Raine Reece countered a kick with a powerful attack up the center of the pitch. Unfortunately, this would be her last run of the matchup, as an injury to her knee called for a substitution. Minutes after the adjustments were made, Mines was able to find a gap and go for a run of their own closing the lead to 14-5 going into half.

Minutes into the second half Mines found another seam, missed tackles and miscommunication led to a 14-12 score. From here the match got interesting. CMU would rally, have a big hit, poach a ball, and counterattack on the outside, but Mines would stay with them. The match was tied at 19 and 26, but Mines never took the lead. The score remained neck in neck going back and forth as Coop again beat the defense on the outside. Freshmen Kaylee Burns would add to the CMU lead with a big crash run up the center of the pitch. But Coop would put the nail in the coffin scoring her hat trick and the go ahead try with 8 minutes left in the matchup.

CMUs speed and conditioning along with grit and heart was enough to outlast Mines and bring home the season opener win.
 
Final score on this thriller 33-26. The Mavericks are on the road Sat. Sept. 28^th verses Utah State in Logan, UT, and will return to the CMU Rugby pitch Sat. Oct. 5^th at 11am as they host Colorado State University. 
 
Trys
Kaylee Burns 
Chloe Coop (3)
Zelly Moore
Conversions:
Ellen Rickerd 4