GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2020 and just the third time in program history, the nation's 13
th-ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks will begin an important 3-game regional stretch in Florida on Saturday night.
The Mavs open the Spring Break trip at Florida Southern in Lakeland on Saturday at 7 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. Mountain) before heading to Melbourne to face the Florida Tech Panthers for a Tuesday night encounter at 7:30 p.m. EDT (5:30 p.m.). They will then wrap up the trip on Thursday at 7 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. Mountain) at Saint Leo, currently ranked 16th in the national poll
All three games against the Sunshine State Conference and fellow NCAA Division II South Region foes will be streamed on the
Sunshine State Network. Live statistics can be found at the links above.
Last Times Out
After a hectic start that that saw the Mavs play four games in 11 days on two separate trips to California and Missouri, the Mavs have been off from competitive action since Feb. 25.
In their last game, the Mavericks played exquisite lacrosse, winning at Rockhurst in Kansas City by an 18-8 margin. The Hawks were and are still receiving votes in the USILA poll at the time.
JJ Brummett scored five goals and added three assists in that game while
Carson Points added four goals.
Connor Jensen also registered his third hat trick of the campaign.
Shaden Shields made ten saves and allowed just six goals to record the win in net.
Two days earlier on Feb. 23, CMU won at William Jewell in nearby Liberty, Missouri by a 12-3 scoreline. The Maverick defense and goalkeeping combination held the Cardinals without a goal for more than 50 minutes. Brummett had three while Jensen and
Logan Smith had two each for the Maverick offense.
Full recaps for both games can be seen here:
PBC Awards
The Mavericks combined to win five of the first six Peach Belt Conference/Rocky Mountain Division Player of the Week awards over the first three weeks of the season.
The Mavs won each of the first three defensive awards with goalie
Shaden Shields winning the Week 1 and 3 awards on Feb. 18 and Mar. 3, respectively.
Brady Porter claimed the Week 2 honor on Feb. 25.
Meanwhile,
Connor Jensen took the offensive award on Feb. 25 before
JJ Brummett won the Mar. 3 award for his 5-goal, 8-point effort at Rockhurst.
Each award was based on games played Monday through Sunday of the previous week.
Time Zoned Road Warriors
The Mavericks will play multiple games in all four time zones of the Continental U.S. this season and have already played two in the Pacific and two in the Central. They have spent the past 2+ weeks at home in the Mountain Time Zone but have yet to play at home this season.
The Mavs will now be in the Eastern Time Zone and the state of Florida for the next three games over a span of six days.
Shields Shines
Maverick sophomore goalie
Shaden Shields, who is returning to his home state of Florida, this week, has certainly a welcome addition to the program. Named to the Northeastern-10 All-Rookie Team as a freshman at American International College in Massachusetts last year, Shields has posted a .709 save percentage and 5.78 goals against average through four games. The Naples, Florida ranks second in the country for his save percentage and fifth for goals against average.
On the gradual climb
The Mavericks began the year ranked 18
th in the preseason edition of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Poll and moved up to 17
th in the first regular season edition without having played a game.
The Mavs then moved up two more spots to 15
th in the Week No. 2 poll, which was released on Feb. 17 before the Mavs' game against Dominican later that day.
The Mavs then inched up to the No. 14 spot in the Feb. 24 Week No. 3 poll after their wins at Dominican and William Jewell before climbing one more spot to 13
th in the Week No. 4 poll, released on Mar. 3.
The Mavs then stayed in the No. 13 spot after not playing
in the latest poll (Week No. 5), released this past Monday (Mar. 10).
In this most recent poll, the Mavs have garnered 165 points and are the second of two Peach Belt Conference teams in the top 20 behind Peach Belt Division leading Flagler, who is ranked tenth.
Three other conference teams in Montevallo and Lander from that division and CUI and from the Rocky Mountain Division are also receiving votes. Montevallo is just one spot outside of the top 20 with 26 points while CUI and Lander both have two points.
#1 is No. 1
Maverick senior
JJ Brummett, who wears uniform #1, leads the Rocky Mountain Division statistics in assists with nine and is also atop the RMAC for points per game (5.25) having scored 12 goals in his first four games. He has 21 offensive points and trails only Dominican's Chase Pacenta in that category as Pacenta has 22 in six games played, two more than Brummett and the Mavs.
Brummett and teammate
Connor Jensen are also tied for second in the RMAC for goals (12) and goals per game as each is averaging a hat-trick.
Stingy D
The Mavericks have allowed just 24 total goals this season, an average of just 6.00 per game, mark that leads both divisions of the Peach Belt Conference. They have not allowed an opponent to score in double figures, conceding no more than eight goals in games this year. CMU also held three of their final five opponents in 2024 to single digits and have done so seven times in their 9-game multiple-season wining streak.
Going for Ten
With their 4-0 start this year, the Mavericks have now won nine consecutive games dating back to last year, when they won their final five of a 13-4 season.
With a win over Florida Southern on Saturday night, the Mavs would extend their winning streak to double digits for just the fourth time in program history.
The Mavs also won their final nine games of 2023 and started off the 2024 campaign with two wins.
In 2018, the Mavs won ten straight games before seeing that streak ended in their only NCAA Tournament appearance during what ended up as a 17-3 season.
The Mavs' longest single-season winning streak is 11 games, recorded at the end of the 2016. They also won the first three games of 2017 to post a school-record 14-game multiple-season winning streak.
Scoring Streak
JJ Brummett has scored goals in 25 consecutive games dating back to the final regular season weekend of the 2023 season. He scored in the final four games of that campaign and all 17 games in 2024, when he led the Mavs and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with 54 goals.
He has since scored multiple goals in each of the Mavs' four games this year.
The Glen Rock, Pennsylvania native has 110 goals in his career as just the sixth Maverick to ever tally more than 100. He currently ranks fourth in CMU history for career goal scoring and is now eyeing his older brother Jed, who finished his career in 2023 with 123, for the No. 3 spot. JJ and Jed played together in 2022 and 2023.
The all-time Maverick record is also within
JJ Brummett's sight. Steve Brandenburg holds that mark of 145 and Brummett enters the Florida trip just 35 goals shy of that mark with nine regular season plus possible post-season games to go.
A Peach-ey route to the NCAA Tournament
The RMAC and Peach Belt Conference, which has four men's lacrosse-playing members in three southern states, formed a partnership for this 2025 season in order to take advantage of the new NCAA Division II Tournament Automatic Qualification spot policies. Because both conferences were slightly under the requirement of having six member teams to earn an AQ spot, they joined forces.
Each conference will continue to run their respective leagues in tandem and under the official auspices of the PB. The five RMAC teams will play in the Rocky Mountain Division of the Peach Belt Conference and the RMAC will still run a regular season and post-season "division" tournament. The four PBC members will do the same in the "Peach Belt Division".
The two divisional tournament winners will then then square off on Friday, May 2 at the Peach Belt Champion in the Automatic Qualification game, with the winner earning an automatic spot in the now expanded 16-team NCAA Division II Tournament, which begins just five days later. Other PBC and RMAC members are also eligible to receive at-large spots from the NCAA Division II South Region, as has been the case although it has been a tough road with the Mavs making their and the RMAC's lone appearance in 2018.
In 2025, the region will send eight teams, up from six and four teams in past years, to the NCAA Tournament, including the AQ's from five conferences. Forty-three teams are in those five leagues. The North region, which has 43 teams from four leagues and one independent will also have eight qualifiers.
Northwest Nazarene of Nampa, Idaho will also join the RMAC as an associate member in 2026 moving up from the club ranks.
CSU Pueblo dropped their varsity program after the 2024 campaign.
The Bench Boss
Troy Moyer is early in his third season in charge of the Maverick program, promoted to the head coach role in the fall of 2022 after a brief stint as the interim head coach. Moyer took over for former CMU Head Coach Vince Smith, who left the position for other opportunities outside of coaching.
Moyer had originally been hired as an assistant on Smith's staff for the 2018-19 season.
In his two-plus seasons as a head coach, Moyer has guided the Mavericks to a combined 33-6 (.846) record, including a 15-1 mark in RMAC games and a perfect 12-0 record at home. The Mavs have won both the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament titles in both seasons with Moyer in charge.
In his overall time with the Mavericks, Moyer has helped the program win four RMAC regular season titles and three tournament crowns. The Mavs have gone a combined 71-20 (.780) in his now seven seasons with Moyer on the sidelines.
Know Your Foes
Florida Southern (Saturday- 7 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Mountain)
The Mocs have struggled to a 1-6 start but played three of the top five teams in the country to begin the season. They have since played three 1-goal games.
Their win came on Feb. 23 against CUI by a 9-8 score.
They will celebrate Senior Night against the Mavs at Berend Field.
Maddux Walton leads the Mocs with 12 goals and 13 points while Nolan Tighe and Jack Epley both have ten points. Tighe has scored nine goals.
The Mocs are averaging just less than ten goals per game (9.67) but run a strong possession game.
Jacob Czyz has won 103 of 149 faceoffs (.691) and has 62 groundballs.
Mason McQuiggin has led the defensive unit with 20 groundballs and 11 caused turnovers.
Michael Simone has started all seven games in net and has played all but two minutes of the season. He has a .554 save percentage and 10.74 goals against average.
Florida Tech (Tuesday – 7:30 p.m. Eastern/5:30 p.m. Pacific)
The Panthers are currently 2-4 and will host Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday before taking on the Mavs at Rick Stottler Field.
All four of their losses have come to teams in the USILA poll, including then No. 2 Tampa, No. 5 Wingate and No. 17 Mercy. Their two wins have come over North Greenville and Lees-McRae.
Joe Coveleski leads a balanced Panther offensive attack with eight goals and five assists. Four other Panthers have scored five or more goals, including Rob Gadomski, who has seven goals and four assists to trail only Coveleski in both statistics.
Gavin Wessel and Steve Ulrichs are tied for the team lead with 18 groundballs while Ulrichs has 12 caused turnovers.
Carter Batt and Shale Saeger have combined to take nearly all of their faceoffs and have a .440 combined winning percentage.
Jax Francisco has started all six games and has played 5 ½ of them. He has a 12.55 goals against average and .465 save percentage, having made 69 stops while conceding 74 goals.
Saint Leo (Thursday – 7 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Mountain)
The Lions are currently ranked 16
th in the USILA poll and are off to a strong 6-1 start. They defeated ninth-ranked Maryville by an 11-9 score at home on Wednesday after falling 8-7 to then 12
th-ranked and now No. 10 Flagler in St. Augustine last Saturday.
Four of their games have been decided by a single goal.
John Raucci leads the team with 19 goals and 23 offensive points. Tristan Leblanc also had 12 goals while Aidan Konetgen and Ben Baker have chipped in ten apiece.
Andrew Graham has taken around 80 percent of the Lions's faceoffs and has a .573 winning percentage (82-143) while scooping up 37 groundballs.
Owen Wills and Jimmy McGonigle have led the defensive unit as Wills has 27 groundballs and 13 caused turnovers. McGonigle has 25 groundballs and leads the Lions with 15 caused turnovers.
Drew Wheeler has made 86 saves and has a 10.19 goals against average and .551 save percentage.
Series Histories
The Mavs are 2-4 all-time against the Florida Southern College Mocs. All six games have been played in Lakeland, Florida. Two have been decided by a single goal, including last year's 13-12 Florida Southern win on Mar. 19. The Mocs have won the last three games. CMU's last win was in 2017.
The Mavs are 2-1 all-time against Florida Tech. All three games have been played in Melbourne. CMU won in 2012 and 2023 while the Panthers claimed a win in 2022.
The Mavs and Saint Leo Lions have split two previous games against each other. CMU claimed a 16-8 win in the last match up in 2020. That game was played on a neutral field in Jacksonville. The Lions won 9-7 in Saint Leo on 2016.
Up Next
After playing their first seven games away from home in three times zones but not their own, the Mavericks will return home to face CUI in their first of four regular season home games on Friday, Mar. 28. The Mavs opened the season by beating the Golden Eagles, 13-8 on Feb. 15.
