GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After playing their first seven games away from home, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's lacrosse team will play their long-awaited home-opener on Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock when they host the Concordia University Irvine Golden Eagles in a massive top-of-the-standings clash at Community Hospital Unity Field.
The Mavericks,
ranked 19th (tie) in the latest weekly USILA National Poll, are 5-2 overall and sit atop the Peach Belt Conference's Rocky Mountain Division standings with a 2-0 conference record. CUI, receiving a single vote in the national poll, will enter Friday's game just percentage points behind at 3-1 in the division. The Golden Eagles are 4-5 overall but have won three straight.
Friday's game will be streamed for free on the RMAC Network and live stats can be accessed at the links above. Tickets are also available at the link above.
Last Times Out
The Mavericks spent their Spring Break last week in Florida, where they played three games in a span of six days. The dropped the first two of those games to Florida Southern and Florida Tech but bounced back with a comprehensive 21-14 victory last Thursday over then 13
th-ranked Saint Leo.
Full recaps for all three games can be found below
Last Time We Met
Friday's game will complete the regular season series between the Mavericks and Golden Eagles.
CMU opened the season against CUI back on Feb. 15, posting a 13-8 win on a neutral site win at Dominican's Kennelly Field in San Rafael, California.
That game was a re-match of last year's RMAC Tournament Championship game, which the top-seeded and host Mavericks won in overtime 13-12 over the third-seeded Golden Eagles in what CUI's last visit to Grand Junction.
Connor Jensen and
Carson Points both recorded hat tricks in the season-opening win as Jensen and
JJ Brummett, who had two goals, both finished with eight offensive points.
Maverick net-minder
Shaden Shields made 20 saves in the win and went on to be named as the Rocky Mountain Division's Defensive Player of the Week for the first of two times this season.
Speaking of 2-timers
Maverick senior attackman
JJ Brummett also earned his second
Rocky Mountain Division Player of the Week honor this season earlier this week as he won the award announced on Monday. Brummett scored eight goals in the Mavs' two games that were figured into the selection process, tallying three goals and an assist in the Mavs' 21-14 win over Saint Leo after scoring five times in the heart-breaking 10-9 defeat to Florida Tech last Tuesday.
Brummett now leads the Mavs and the RMAC for goals (21), assists (12) and points (33).
The Glen Rock, Pennsylvania native had also been recognized as the divisional player of the week on Mar. 4 after scoring five goals and assisting on three others in the 18-8 win over Rockhurst.
What Time is It?
It should be easy to forgive if the Mavericks are not sure of the answer to that question.
The Mavericks will play in their own time zone and at home for the first time this season on Friday after playing their first three games in the other three time zones of the Continental U.S.
They played their first two games in California and the Pacific Time Zone before playing their third and fourth games in Missouri and the Central Time Zone. They were in Florida and the Eastern Time Zone for three games on their last trip.
Now back at home in Colorado, CMU will play all six of its remaining games of the regular season in the Mountain Time Zone., where they will also hope to spend the Rocky Mountain Division Tournament.
Four of the Mavs' six remaining regular season games will be at CMU's Community Hospital Unity Field. Shorter bus trips to Salt Lake City, Utah and Alamosa, Colorado also await the Mavs on Apr. 6 and 9.
What's at Stake
A win in Friday's game would go a long way towards ensuring the Mavs would be able to stay at or close to home for the Rocky Mountain Division post-season tournament on Apr. 24 and 26. The division's regular season champion will earn the right to host that 4-team event.
CMU is currently 2-0 in the division and leads CUI (3-1) by
percentage points in the standings. A win on Friday would put the Mavericks even further ahead and ensure positive outcomes in any direct head-to-head tie-breakers while handing the Golden Eagles their second loss.
Conversely, a Golden Eagle win on Friday would move them to 4-1 and into first place in the divisional standings, ahead of what would then be a 2-1 Maverick squad.
A team with two losses has never won the RMAC title although the Mavs and Westminster have shared the conference regular season crown in two of the past three years after splitting the regular season series while going undefeated against the rest of the conference.
Westminster is also very much still in the mix for this year's crown with a 1-1 divisional record and two upcoming games to come against CMU as well as a home game against CUI on Apr. 12. CUI claimed a 10-5 win over Westminster on Mar. 19 in Irvine.
Dominican (1-3) and Adams State (0-2) are currently in fourth and fifth place.
Home Sweet Home
Although the Mavericks do not get the opportunity to play at home that often, they have certainly taken advantage of the chances they do get at Community Hospital Unity Field.
CMU will enter Friday's game as winners of 16 straight home games over the past three seasons. They went 7-0 at home last season, winning all five of their regular season games plus winning the RMAC Tournament Championship with a 13-12 overtime win over CUI.
The Mavs also won the 2023 RMAC Tournament title at home after going 3-0 at home during the regular season. The Mavs were 5-0 at home that year and went 4-0 at home in 2022 but did not host that year's RMAC Tournament after being edged on tie-breaking procedures.
CMU's last home loss was on May 8, 2021, when Westminster won the RMAC Tournament Championship game at the CHUF.
CMU has not lost a regular season home game in more than five years, winning their last 17 such contests since falling to Rollins (Fla.) on Mar. 13, 2019.
CMU has also won 28 straight conference home games since Feb. 20, 2016, when falling to Westminster.
The Mavs have a 66-8 all-time record at home, good for a .892 winning percentage.
They are 12-0 at home with head coach
Troy Moyer at the helm of the program.
Clearing Stars
The Mavericks rank ninth in the country for clearing percentage at .915 but will be on the second best clearing team on the field on Friday, according to the national statistics, which has CUI sitting atop the country at .939. The Golden Eagles have only been guilty of nine failed clears (139-148) while CMU is 151-for-165.
Big Time Net-Minders
The RMAC's top two goalies will match-up on Friday. CMU sophomore
Shaden Shields leads the conference with a .556 save percentage and ranks second in goals against average with a 9.54 per game mark.
CUI's Daniel Yang has a slightly better goals against average (9.44) and is second behind Shields in the RMAC statistics for save percentage at .515.
Blackjack
The Mavericks were able to score a season-high 21 goals in their last outing against No. 13 Saint Leo.
Eleven different Mavericks found the net in that victory as
Logan Smith, who wears uniform No. 21, led the way with four goals.
JJ Brummett and
Connor Jensen both added hat tricks as well.
Throw out the Hats
Five different Maverick players have registered hat tricks this season.
JJ Brummett has recorded four in the last five games and leads the team and the RMAC with 21 goals this season.
Connor Jensen is second on the team with 18 goals and has tallied four hat tricks. He and Brummett have both scored in all seven games this year.
Carson Points also has two hat tricks this season while
Erich Petersen and
Logan Smith both have one.
Scoring Streak
JJ Brummett has scored goals in 28 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' seven games this season.
The Glen Rock, Pennsylvania native has 119 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 extended reach, especially if the Mavs make a deep post-season run. Steve Brandenburg holds that mark of 145, set in 2017.
Brummett will also become just the sixth Maverick to ever record 150 offensive points with his next goal or assist. He has 149 career points entering Friday's game.
A Peach-ey path 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 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 34-8 (.810) 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 72-22 (.766) in his now seven seasons with Moyer on the sidelines.
Know Your Foe
The Golden Eagles have been playing some of their best lacrosse as of late, winning their last three games since starting 1-5 overall. They beat 14
th-ranked Rollins at home by a 12-11 count on Mar. 8 and then claimed a 19-2 divisional home win over Adams State a week later. They then recorded an important 10-5 win over Westminster in their last outing on Mar. 19.
Chad McFadden leads a balanced scoring attack with 15 goals and 23 total points to sit fifth in the conference for goals and tied for fourth for points. Brody MacDonald also has 13 goals while Jeremy Barnes and Max Texter both have 11.
Barnes also leads the team in assists and is second behind McFadden with 21 points.
Former CMU player Matt Carresi has seven goals and eight assists as well.
Returning First Team All-RMAC FOGO Cade Poe has been solid again in 2025, winning 80 of 130 draws to rank first in the RMAC and 19th nationally with his .615 face-off percentage. Poe also has a team-high 54 ground balls.
Colin O'Connor and Edward McCann IV lead the defensive lineup with 25 and 23 groundballs, respectively. They also both have caused eight turnovers to co-lead the team.
Daniel Yang, the reigning Rocky Mountain Division Defensive Player of the Week, has a 3-2 record and solid 9.44 goals against average in net. He also has a .515 save percentage and has started five games for Golden Eagle Head Coach Jesse Foss. Joseph Heckel has also made four starts and has a 12.12 goals against average and .417 save percentage.
Series Histories
The Mavs are 4-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles, who first played at the NCAA Division II level last year. Two of those wins have been in Grand Junction.
CMU swept the 2024 season series, winning 19-9 in Irvine, before winning the regular season home game 17-4 on Apr. 5. The Mavs then squeaked by the Golden Eagles, 13-12 in overtime of the RMAC Tournament Championship game on Apr. 27.
The Mavs then won 13-8 to open this year's season.
Up Next
The Mavericks will remain at home for their next game, hosting Adams State next Thursday (Apr. 3) at 5 p.m. They will then go to Salt Lake City for another key clash at Westminster on Sunday, Apr. 6.
