LAKELAND, Fla.— The Colorado Mesa University men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season and fell to 4-1 as the Mavericks conceded a trio of 3-0 runs to the Florida Southern College Moccasins in a 15-8 decision on Saturday night here at Berend Field.
 
The Mocs, inspired by Senior Night festivities, improved to 2-6 after losing three earlier games by a single goal as they scored pair of goals just 59 seconds apart before the mid-way mark of the opening quarter before extending the lead to 5-2 at the end of the first quarter with two goals just 20 seconds part.
 
The Mavs, ranked 13^th in the latest national poll, then closed the gap to 5-3 just over minute into the second quarter before the Mocs answered with three goals over a span of 2:49 to help seize complete control.
 
The hosts led 9-4 at that point before the Mavs would get as close to 9-6 after holding the Mocs without a goal for more than 17 minutes on both sides of the intermission.
 
However, FSC put the game way with another 3-0 run that included a man-up goal just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter.
 
The Mavs had six different goal scorers as Connor Jensen and Logan Smith both tallied two.  Jensen and Eli Bibler also finished with three points as Bibler scored and added two assists.
 
Nolan Tighe scored five goals off the bench for the Mocs while Jack Epley also recorded three.
The Mavs were guilty of 17 turnovers, only four of which were caused by the Mocs, and took eight penalties throughout the night.
 
The Mocs also won 16 of 26 faceoffs as Jacob Czyz won 15 while claiming a game-high seven groundballs.
 
CMU goalie Shaden Shields had five to lead CMU.  He also made 11 saves as the Mocs finished with a 40-30 advantage in total shots, putting 26 of them on net.  The Mavs took 15 shots on goal as FSC net-minder Michael Simone made eight saves to keep the Mavs at bay.
 
Saturday's loss snapped a run of nine straight victories over the last 11 months for the Mavs, who had last lost on Apr. 13, 2024 at Westminster.  The Mavs then won the final five games of the 2024 season to win the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and were off to their best start since 2020 prior to Saturday.
 
CMU will attempt to bounce back as they continue a 3-game stretch over six days in Florida, taking on Florida Tech in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

The Panthers improved to 3-4 with a Saturday win over Alabama-Huntsville.