GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's lacrosse team saw their 7-game winning streak and unbeaten Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference start come to an end but salvaged the advantage in possible tournament seeding tiebreakers thanks to three late goals by junior attack Carson Dickey against nationally-ranked Regis University on Sunday afternoon here at Community Hospital Unity Field.
 
The Mavericks led 4-1 after the first quarter and took an 8-7 lead just 94 seconds into the third quarter before the 15^th-ranked Rangers scored the next seven goals to build a 14-8 lead.
 
However, Dickey scored three of her season-high four goals in a span of just 97 seconds in the final 2 ½ minutes pulling the final score back to 14-11, which could prove monumental for the Mavs' aspirations of hosting the RMAC Tournament for the first time in program history.
 
Regis has hosted it in each of the past four years as the No. 1 seed, defeating the Mavs in the final in each.
 
With Sunday's win, the Rangers improved to 10-4 overall and to 8-1 in the RMAC with their eighth straight win.  They now lead the conference standings by a half-game with one away game remaining at third place UCCS (9-4, 6-3 RMAC) next Friday afternoon in Colorado Springs.
 
The Mavs are now 8-5 overall and 7-1 in the RMAC but have two road games remaining against the two teams in the bottom half of in the conference standings next week in Fort Lewis (1-13, 0-8 RMAC) and CSU Pueblo (2-10, 2-6 RMAC) on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
 
Both of CSU Pueblo's wins have come against Fort Lewis, which can not qualify for the RMAC Tournament. 
 
CSU Pueblo is tied with Westminster (5-8 overall) for the fourth and final spot in the RMAC tournament and will host the Griffins on Thursday night before taking on the Mavs on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Pueblo.
 
The Mavericks have won 14 straight games over Fort Lewis since 2017  and recorded a 17-6 home win over them last month.  Thursday's game in Durango will begin at 1 p.m.
 
They Mavs haver never lost to CSU Pueblo in 18 all-time meetings and scored 15 straight goals in a 17-2 home win just two days earlier on Mar. 28.
 
If the Mavs are able to win both of next week's road games, they would still win at least a share of the RMAC Regular Season title and the right to host the Apr. 25 and 27 RMAC Tournament for the first time as the No. 1 seed thanks to the RMAC tie-breaking procedures. 
 
They could still win the title outright with two wins combined with a Regis loss at UCCS, which is entirely possible after the Rangers needed to come from 7-5 and 9-8 behind to defeat the Mountain Lions at home by an 11-10 count in the first match-up of those squads on Mar. 27 in Denver.
 
CMU beat Regis for just the second time in program history by five goals (16-11) to open the RMAC campaign on Mar. 14; and by only dropping Sunday's game by three goals, have retained the advantage in the second tiebreaker, which is head-to-head goal differential.
 
If not for Dickey's late-game heroics, the Rangers would have had a 6-goal cushion and would have had the inside track to tournament hosting rights.
 
The Mavs, who last shared an RMAC title with Regis in 2023 after winning at home in an overtime thriller, got out to a quick start and scored on each of their first three possessions and took a 3-0 lead just four minutes in the game before running afoul with the referees, picking up ten foul calls and four cards in the first quarter alone.
 
The Rangers, who were called for just two first quarter fouls, took advantage and sliced the early deficit to 4-3 by the end of the first quarter with two free position shot goals while also scoring twice in woman-up situations.
 
The Rangers then went on to take 5-4, 6-5 and 7-6 leads in the second quarter although the Mavs were able to equalize each time on goals by Courteney Murray, Caroline Ohngemach and Sofia Chock, who scored just her second goal of the season to tie the score at 7 with 3:51 to go before the half.
 
Maverick junior Justine Anderson then scored a go-ahead goal at the 13:26 mark of the third quarter to give the Mavericks an 8-7 lead while extending her goal-scoring streak to 18 games.
 
However, the Rangers came roaring back to score seven straight goals while holding the Mavs scoreless for more than 20 minutes to build their 14-8 lead with 4:22 left.
 
The Mavs then fought off another green card but saw a Mikki Brown free position shot with 3:16 left saved by Ranger goalkeeper Brigit Goetsch, who made ten saves on the day.
 
CMU freshman net-minder Heather Hawkins, who stopped eight Ranger shots, then answered as the Mavs cleared the ball before Dickey scored the first of her three late-game goals with 2:10 left.
 
Ali Bryant then won the ensuing draw control before Dickey was fouled with 1:53 remaining.  Dickey converted the ensuing free position shot attempt to close the gap to 14-10.
 
Bryant would also win the next draw before the Rangers' Madeline Schallmoser was dinged with a green card for an offsides violation on a loose ball battle near the restraining line in the Mavs' attacking half of the field.
 
Dickey then converted for a man-up goal on an assist by Courtney Havel to complete the scoring with 37 seconds to go.
 
Anderson and Murray, who picked up her second yellow card just under five minutes into the third quarter, scored two goals apiece in support of Dickey. 
 
Ohngemach had two assists and finished the day with three points, recording at least one in all 13 games this season.
 
Bryant recorded six draw controls while Sydney Skinner recorded four caused turnovers.  Sadie Chappuis and Hawkins co-led the Mavs with four groundballs as finished with a slight 20-18 edge in that category.
 
The Rangers had a slight 29-28 edge in total shots and won 15 of the game's 28 draw controls.
 
They were also a perfect 20-for-20 on clearing and scored three free position shot goals on six attempts.  They did commit 17 turnovers, two more than the Mavs, who were 17-for-21 in clearing.
 
Shea Murphy scored six goals to lead the Ranger attack while Justine Spahr added three goals.  Megan Bunker had six draw controls, four groundballs and two caused turnovers in the Ranger win.
 
The Mavericks recognized six seniors prior to pre-game warmups earlier Sunday afternoon.  Those six seniors in Brown, Byrant, goalkeeper Shannon Murphy, Ohngemach, Emme Rezoski and Skinner, who could have played their final career home game if not for the heroics of Dickey, one of eight Maverick juniors on the roster.