GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's lacrosse team will continue a challenging stretch of games as they open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with road games against their two biggest conference rivals in Regis and UCCS this weekend.
 
The Mavs, 1-4 on the season, will face their fourth straight nationally-ranked opponent in No. 11 Regis on Friday evening at 5 p.m. in Denver before traveling to Colorado Springs to take on UCCS on Sunday at noon.
 
The games will be re-matches of both of the Mavs' 2024 RMAC Tournament contests.
 
Both games will be streamed on the RMAC Network and live statistics can be found at the links above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks played their final non-conference contest of the regular season and their home-opener last Thursday, falling 14-7 to 13^th-ranked Grand Valley State.
 
The Mavs held a 4-2 lead in the second quarter before the Lakers scored nine straight goals, including four in just over four minutes at the start of the second half to seize control and eventually the victory.
 
Courtney Havel led six Maverick goal scorers with two while Justine Anderson finished with a goal and two points for three offensive points.
 
Sadie Chappuis had three groundballs and three caused turnovers to lead the CMU defense.
 
Click here for a full recap of the game.
 
Rivalries Renewed
 
Friday's contest at Regis will be the renewal of the rivalry between the RMAC's two best programs as of late.
 
The Mavericks and Rangers have met in the RMAC Championship game in each of the last four years with the Rangers winning all four.  Regis has also won the last five RMAC regular season titles although the Mavericks were able to share the 2023 title after splitting the regular season series that year.  CMU finished second behind the Rangers in the RMAC standings in 2021, 2022 and 2024.
 
The Mavericks have been the No. 2 seed the RMAC Tournament in each of the last four seasons.
 
Meanwhile, CMU has played and defeated UCCS in the semifinal round of the RMAC Tournament in each of the past four seasons.  The Mountain Lions have finished third in the RMAC standings in all four years since and including 2021.
 
Tough Stretch
 
The Mavs will wrap up a historically difficult stretch of games against nationally-ranked foes when they play Regis on Friday.  That game will be CMU's fourth straight against teams included in the IWLCA Division II Top Poll, a spurt that the Mavs have never previously faced in the history of their program, now in year No. 15.
 
The Mavs began the stretch in Florida, playing then 20^th-ranked Florida Tech on Feb. 27 and then at No. 9 Saint Leo two days later on Mar. 1.
 
The Mavs then returned home to play No. 13 Grand Valley State last Thursday (Mar. 6).
 
Saint Leo is ranked eighth in the latest national poll, released on Monday (Mar. 10).  Grand Valley State dropped a spot to 14^th after falling at Regis on Sunday while Florida Tech is currently ranked 19^th.
 
Although Sunday's game at UCCS will end the streak of nationally-ranked opponents, it will also be challenging.  The Mountain Lions currently hold the RMAC's best overall record at 3-1 heading into a Friday night clash with Westminster, which is 2-2.
 
The tough scheduling is nothing new to the Mavericks, who played six games against four different nationally-ranked foes last year, including then No. 6 Grand Valley State to begin the year.  The Mavs lost all six of those games, but won their other 11 contests in 2023.
 
The Mavs also played seven games against five different nationally-ranked foes in 2023 and defeated then No. 4 Regis on Apr. 23, 2023 to help win a share of the RMAC Regular Season title with the Rangers.  That was CMU's last win over a nationally-ranked opponent.
 
Multiple-Goal Streak
 
Maverick junior attack Courtney Havel has scored two more goals in all five of the Mavs' games this season and leads the team with 15 total twine-ticklers.  She is part of a 3-way tie for second in the RMAC statistics for total goals.
 
The Lake Oswego, Oregon native was an honorable mention all-conference pick as a freshman when she scored 14 goals.  She then scored four goals in seven games at the start of last season before missing the remainder of the 2024 campaign due to injury.
 
Avoid the Whistle
 
The Mavericks have been shown 15 yellow and 12 green cards this season.  With players held in the penalty area a RMAC-leading 27 times so far, the Mavs have given up 12 woman-up goals, a statistic they would like to change with the conference season now on the horizon.
 
The Mavs have also given up 17 free position shot goals while scoring just six.
 
Scoring Streak
 
Maverick junior Justine Anderson also has an impressive goal-scoring streak.  She has scored at least one goal in all five games this season and each of the last ten dating back to last season, when she was named as the RMAC Attacker of the Year after pacing the conference for goals per game (3.18).
 
Anderson has nine goals this season and also leads the RMAC with nine assists.
 
She enters the weekend with 90 career goals and 123 career points.
 
Her last goalless game was against UCCS in her hometown of Colorado Springs although she did have two assists in the Mavs' 13-12 overtime win over the Mountain Lions on Apr. 19 of last season.
 
Leading Helpers
 
The Mavericks lead the RMAC in total assists with 33 and with their 6.60 assist per game average.
 
The Mavs have been able to record assists on 61.1 percent of their 54 total goals this season, which is also the highest ratio in the RMAC.
 
Win 125
 
The Mavericks' next win will be their 125^th in program-history, a milestone they hope to reach this weekend.  CMU is 124-85 all-time, good for a .593 winning percentage. 
 
RMAC Records
 
The Mavs have an even better 65-20 (.765) record in RMAC games, including two forfeit wins over Adams State in 2021 and 2022 that are not included in the Mavs' all-time overall record, as those games were declared "no contests" by the NCAA.
 
Eighteen of the Mavs' 20 all-time RMAC losses have come to Regis, the only RMAC team to have beaten the Mavericks this decade.  CMU has not lost an RMAC game to any other current conference member.
 
The Coach
 
The 2025 season is the second with Head Coach Ashley Delaney running the Maverick program. 
 
Delaney is no stranger to the squad and will be in her sixth year overall after serving as an assistant for the previous four seasons from 2020-23.
 
The Mavs went 11-6 last season with Delaney in charge and posted a 33-19 combined record in her four years as an assistant under two previous head coaches. 
 
The Mavs also won a share of the program's only RMAC Regular Season title in 2023 and have been in the RMAC Tournament Championship game in each of the last four years.

Including this season, Delaney has a winning 12-10 record as a head coach.  The Mavericks are a combined 34-23 with her on the coaching staff.
 
She is 0-3 against Regis and 3-0 against UCCS as a head coach.
 
Know Your Foes
 
Regis (Friday - 5 p.m.)
 
The Rangers have also played a very tough schedule, posting a 2-3 overall record, including a 1-3 record against fellow nationally-ranked teams.  They started 0-3 against then then 11^th, eighth and second ranked teams but have bounced back to claim wins in their last two games, including a 12-5 win over No. 13 Grand Valley State last Sunday just three days after the Lakers got past CMU, 14-7.
 
The Rangers advanced to semifinals of last year's NCAA Tournament for the third time and have appeared in each of the last seven national tournaments since 2017.
 
Shea Murphy leads this edition of the Rangers with 15 goals and 18 points and is tied for the second in the RMAC for goals and tie for third in points.  Lexie Springman has also chipped in nine goals and three assists while Becky Goetsch is third on the team with 11 points, thanks in part to a team-leading seven helpers.
 
On the defensive end, goalie Brigit Goetsch leads the conference in goals against average (10.20) and save percentage (.514)  having gone the distance in all five Ranger games.
 
Murphy and Goetsch are the reigning RMAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week.
 
Megan Bunker leads the Rangers with 25 draw controls and paces the RMAC with ten caused turnovers while ranking second (tie) on the team with 11 groundballs.  Madeline Schallmoser leads the team and is ranked second in the conference statistics with 14 groundballs.  She is also just one caused turnover behind Bunker with nine.
 
UCCS (Sunday - Noon)
 
The Mountain Lions (3-1) have the RMAC's most prolific attack to date, scoring 60 goals in their four games, good for an average of 15 per.  They have scored 16 in each of their last two games, defeating Ashland by a 16-10 margin at home last Wednesday.
 
Sarah Urbanic also leads the RMAC individual statistics with 19 goals while Emma Grace Martin is tied for second with 15.  Those two also ranks first and second in the conference for total points with 24 and 20, respectively.  Urbanic was the 2024 RMAC Freshman of the Year and had four hat tricks in her first collegiate season.
 
Allie Schell is also an important part of the Mountain Lion offense and has dished out eight assists while scoring six goals of her own.
 
Peyton Ross leads the team with 19 draw controls while Meghan Weiss and Kendra Knutson lead the defense, which is third in the conference thus far after giving up 13.5 goals per game.  Weiss has 11 groundballs and three caused turnovers while Knutson has ten groundballs and six caused turnovers to share the team-lead with Ava Goodnature.
 
Three different players have played and started in goal.  Jordyn Nunez has appeared in all four games and has a team-best 11.45 goals against average and .400 save percentage.  She has made 16 saves while conceding 24 goals in 125:47 worth of net time and has been credited with the win twice.
 
Series Histories
 
Although the Rangers and Mountain Lions have been the teams that have finished just ahead and behind the Mavericks in the recent RMAC standings, the all-time series with both opponents have been rather lopsided.
 
Regis holds a 32-1 lead in the all-time series, which is the most played in both program's respective histories.
 
The Mavs lone win came on Apr. 23, 2023, when the Mavs pulled out a 14-13 overtime win to split the regular season series and claim a share of the RMAC title.  The Rangers have won all 18 games between the teams in Denver.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavericks have won all 13 match-ups against UCCS, since the Mountain Lions founded their program in 2017.  Five of those wins have come in Colorado Springs while four others have come in the last four RMAC Tournament semifinals, all played in Denver on Regis' campus.
 
The Mavs won 12-11 in overtime last year in Colorado Springs.
 
Up Next
 
After playing six of their first seven games on the road, the Mavericks will get the chance to be at home, playing three straight and five of their next six in Grand Junction.  That stretch starts next Saturday (Mar. 22) against Westminster.  The time of that game has been set for noon.