COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Coming off a 2024 season that saw them win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament and a share of the RMAC's regular season title, the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks have been picked as the co-No. 1 team in the Peach Belt Conference's Rocky Mountain Division Preseason Poll, which was released by RMAC officials on Wednesday.
The Mavericks received two first place votes and tied with rival Westminster University, which also picked up two first place votes, for the top spot in the 5-team poll with 14 points.
Concordia University Irvine received the other first place vote and was picked third overall with 11 points ahead of Dominican (6) and Adams State (5).
The 2025 season will present a new era for RMAC men's lacrosse as its five members partner with the Peach Belt Conference, as associate members to provide an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament. The two conferences will operate their lacrosse programs in tandem under the auspices of the Peach Belt for 2025 as two divisions, each coming together for a championship game in May for the bid.
The RMAC Division Tournament will be held Thursday, April 24 and Saturday, April 26. The winner will then advance to the AQ (Automatic Qualification) game which will be held at the Peach Belt Division Champion on Friday, May 2.
In conjunction with the release of the preseason poll, the Rocky Mountain Division also revealed its Preseason Player to Watch List, recognizing 14 of the league's top men's lacrosse student-athletes, including six returning First Team All-RMAC selections.
The list is made up of returning first and second team all-conference selections. Schools that did not have a returning all-conference player were allowed to place one person on the Watch List.
The Mavericks have four representatives on the watch list in senior attackman
JJ Brummett, junior midfielders
Dillon Pless and
Deuce Kirschke and senior defender
Caden Hathaway.
Brummett earned honorable mention all-America honors in 2024 and led the RMAC with 54 goals.
Pless also earned First Team All-RMAC honors in 2024, scoring 17 goals while adding five assists.
Kirschke was also a first team all-conference pick at the short stick defensive midfielder position last year and returns to the Maverick squad after claiming 26 groundballs and six turnovers while scoring five goals last year.
Hathaway earned Second Team All-RMAC honors in 2024 after registering 28 groundballs and 12 caused turnovers. He was named as the RMAC Co-Defender and Freshman of the Year in 2022 as well.
The Mavericks will play scrimmages at Colorado College on Feb. 1 before starting the regular season with a key RMAC clash against CUI on Feb. 15 at Dominican before playing the host Penguins two days later.
The Mavs will then play five non-conference games in road trips to Missouri and Florida before resuming RMAC play with their home opener against CUI on Mar. 28.
The Mavs won the RMAC Tournament Championship game in overtime last season to wrap up their strong 13-4 overall season.
