GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks will look to bounce back from their only Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference loss and to claim what would be their second regular season conference title with a pair of road wins this week at Fort Lewis College and CSU Pueblo.
 
The Mavs, 8-5 overall and 7-1 in RMAC play, would also earn the No. 1 seed and right to host next week's RMAC Tournament for the first time in program history if they are able to win both games.
 
Two wins combined with a Regis loss at third place UCCS on Friday afternoon, would also give the Mavs an outright title for the first time in program history.  The Mavs shared the 2023 regular season crown with Regs.
 
CMU will be in Durango to face sixth place Fort Lewis (1-13, 0-8 RMAC) on Thursday at 1 p.m. They will then travel to Pueblo to take on CSU Pueblo (2-10, 2-6 RMAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regular season finale for both squads.
 
While Fort Lewis has been eliminated from RMAC Tournament contention, CSU Pueblo could be fighting for the fourth and final spot if they are able to defeat Westminster at home on Thursday night.  The ThunderWolves and Griffins are currently tied for fourth in the conference standings.
 
Live statistics for both of the Mavericks' games can be found at the links above.
 
They will also be streamed for free on the RMAC Network at www.cmumavericks.com/tv.  Streams of next week's RMAC Tournament games require a paid daily, tournament or season-long subscription.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks played a pair of home games last weekend, dominating UCCS, 20-9 on Friday before falling 14-11 to Regis, setting up the final week scenario listed above.
 
In Friday's win over UCCS, Caroline Ohngemach scored seven goals and assisted on another as the Mavs pulled away for what was their seventh straight victory.  Justine Anderson also chipped in seven points with three goals and four assists while Ali Bryant recorded a first-quarter hat trick.
 
That result, combined with Regis' 13-9 road win at Westminster later that night, set up a RMAC showdown between the top two teams in the conference standings on Sunday.
 
The Mavs jumped out to 3-0 and 4-1 leads over the nation's 15^th-ranked Rangers and took another 8-7 lead on an Anderson goal just 94 seconds into the third quarter.
 
However, the Rangers scored the next seven goals to take a 14-8 lead.
 
The Mavs then closed the gap with three Carson Dickey goals in the final 2 ½ minutes to importantly narrow the final margin, thus preserving the Mavs' advantage in RMAC Tournament seeding tie-breakers.
 
More on that later.
 
Dickey led the Mavs with four goals on the day after the Mavericks honored six seniors during Senior Day festivities prior to warm-ups.
 
Hat trick club
 
Ali Bryant scored three of her season-high four goals in the opening five minutes of Friday's win, allowing her to join the Mavs' 2025 hat trick club, which now has an impressive seven members.  Bryant's hat trick was her first since the 2023 RMAC Tournament semifinal win over the Mountain Lions.
 
Courtey Havel and Caroline Ohngemach have both recorded three or more goals in a game seven times a piece this season.
 
Justine Anderson (4), Carson Dickey (2), Courteney Murray (2) and Mikki Brown have also recorded hat tricks this season.
 
50-50-50
 
Three Maverick standouts have now recorded 50 or more offensive points this season.  Justine Anderson leads the group with 55 (29 goals, 26 assists) while Caroline Ohngemach has 53 (35G, 18A).  Courtney Havel leads the team with 42 goals and has 50 points as well.
 
The three Mavericks and two UCCS players in Sarah Urbanic (71) and Emma Grace Martin 952) are the only five RMAC players to have reached the total so far.
 
CMU last had three 50-pointers in the same season in 2022, when now assistant coach Kiley Davis led that year's team with 60 points ahead of Taylor Jakeman (55) and Melanie Evans (54).
 
The 2019 Maverick squad, the only won to have ever reached the NCAA Tournament, had five 50-pointers and is the only CMU until to have had two players reach the 60-point mark in Paige Elliott (82) and Olivia Hayden (77), which are the top two single-season totals in program history.
 
Anderson's 55 points this year is already equal to the 11^th highest in program history.
 
Regional Rankings
 
The Mavericks are one of eight teams in the official NCAA Division II Midwest Regional rankings, which were released for the first time on Wednesday in alphabetical order.  The next two sets of rankings will be released in rank order prior to the May 4 tournament selection announcement.

Six teams from the region, made up of 27 eligible institutions from four conferences, including the RMAC will be selected for the NCAA Tournament.  The conference tournament champions from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), Great Midwest Athletic conference (GMAC) and RMAC will all receive automatic bids while the other three teams will be selected at-large based on the final regional rankings.
 
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) does not have an automatic bid because they only have women's lacrosse playing members, one shy of the mark of six to qualify for an automatic bid.
 
The Mavs have the third highest strength of schedule in the region through Sunday's games at .572 and ranks fifth in the region for RPI (.611) and seventh in the performance indicator category at 13.308.
 
They are 8-5 in Division II and 8-3 in in-region contests, marks that also put the Mavs amongst the top eight teams in the region.
 
They are 4-4 against teams at or above .500 or higher and have gone a combined 4-3 against the other teams on the list of eight regionally-ranked teams.  The Mavs are 4-5 against all regionally-ranked teams as they also played two of the South Region's eight ranked teams this year, falling to Florida Southern and Saint Leo during a Spring Break trip to Florida.  Those two opponents are a combined 25-6 this year.
 
The rest of the alphabetized Midwest Regional rankings list includes UCCS, Grand Valley State, Maryville, Missouri Western, Regis, Rockhurst and UIndy.  CMU has played all but Maryville and UIndy from that list and holds two wins over UCCS and one each over Missouri Western and Regis.
 
The Mavs could face UCCS or Regis again in the RMAC Tournament and possibly both.
 
Tiebreaker Hero
 
Although the Mavericks dropped Sunday's game to Regis, the final 2 ½ minutes and the heroics of junior Carson Dickey in the late stages could prove to be amongst the most monumental series of moments in program history.
 
The Mavs won the first game over the Rangers by five goals and could have clinched a share of the RMAC title and the No. 1 seed in next week's RMAC Tournament with a victory.  Although they lost, the Mavericks still retained the advantage in RMAC Tournament seeding tiebreakers as they narrowed the final deficit to just three goals.
 
Thus, the Mavericks retained a +2 advantage in the head-to-head goal differential against the Rangers, which is the second tiebreaker after head-to-head results.  If the Mavs, who are currently 7-1 with two games to play, and the Rangers, who are 8-1 with one game to play, end up tied, the Mavs would then earn the No. 1 seed and the right to host the tournament.
 
No matter the results of this week's games, the Mavericks will be either the No. 1 or 2 seed in the RMAC Tournament. 
 
UCCS is guaranteed of the No. 3 seed and will play the No. 2 seed next Friday (Apr. 25) in the semifinal round.  Westminster or CSU Pueblo will be the No. 4 seed and will play the top seed in the other semifinal. 
 
The tournament championship game will be played on Sunday, Apr. 27.
 
Times will be set by the RMAC following this week's results in consultation with the host institution.
 
Drawing past a milestone
 
Maverick senior Emme Rezoski zoomed past the 200 career draw control milestone in Friday's win over UCCS and now has 205 draw controls to her credit, the third highest total in program history.

Teammate Ali Bryant ranks second on that list with 265 after entering the season with 197.  She went over the 200 mark in the Mavs' season opener.
 
Neither will catch school record holder Olivia Hayden, who controlled 413 draws in her 2016-19 career.
 
Best Conference Start
 
The Friday afternoon win over UCCS allowed the Mavericks to move to 7-0 in RMAC play for the first time in program history.
 
Now 7-1, the Mavs still have a chance of equaling the 2023 RMAC Co-Championship team with a 9-1 conference record.
 
Defending the CHUF
 
The Mavericks have been historically good at home, posting a winning record on their home turf at Community Hospital Unity Field in each season since and including 2015.  With their 4-2 home record so far this year, the Mavs are assured of yet another winning season and have gone 55-17 (.764) at home in the last ten-plus years and are 61-32 (.656) at home throughout the history of the program, which began in 2011. 
 
They were 6-15 at home in the first four years from 2011-14.
 
The Mavs went 5-2 at home last season and were 6-1 in 2023.
 
With two road wins this week, the Mavs would be able to play at home in the RMAC Tournament for the first time next week.
 
RMAC Records
 
With their split last weekend, the Mavs have an even better 72-21 (.774) 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.
 
Nineteen of the Mavs' 21 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 19-11 record as a head coach.  The Mavericks are a combined 41-24 with her on the coaching staff.
 
Delaney is 3-0 against both Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo in her time as a head coach.  She is also 3-0 against CSU Pueblo counterpart Taylor Ward and is 1-0 against first-year Fort Lewis Coach Ariannah Ritter.
 
Know Your Foes
 
Fort Lewis
 
The Skyhawks have dropped their last nine decisions to fall to 1-13 overall.  They are still looking for their first conference and home win and nearly got it last Saturday against CSU Pueblo, before falling 16-15 in overtime.
 
After playing the Mavs on Thursday, the Skyhawks will close out year No. 1 of the Ariannah Ritter coaching era against Westminster on Saturday.
 
Jasmine Nguyen leads the Skyhawks with 23 goals and 25 points.  Phoebe Ramirez has also chipped in 18 goals and 21 points while Piper Price leads the team with eight assists while also registering 11 goals.
 
Samantha Rodgers is a big part of the Skyhawks' possession and defensive game and leads the team with 58 draw controls.  She also has caused 35 turnovers while recording 37 groundballs to lead the team in those categories as well.
 
Sydney Tannaci is also a big part of the defense and has 29 groundballs, 22 caused turnovers and 23 draw controls.
 
Caley Ley is the team's main goalie and has posted an 18.83 goals against average and .371 save percentage while playing in all 14 games and logging 567 minutes.
 
Olivia Tilbury and Abigail Leighty have also made a combined 12 appearances and have made 46 saves while allowing 73 goals.
 
The Skyhawks have been outscored 251-96 this year and rank last amongst the six RMAC teams in both scoring offense and defense.
 
CSU Pueblo
 
The ThunderWolves are 2-10 overall and 2-6 in the RMAC and sit tied for fourth in the RMAC standings heading into their Thursday evening (6 p.m.) clash against Westminster, the team they are tied with.
 
The Pack kept their post-season hopes alive with a 16-15 overtime win at Fort Lewis on Saturday as Moira Turpen scored the overtime winner.
 
She and Reese Wasmund both scored five goals in the victory.
 
Breonna Mason made 23 saves in the victory and was named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and USA Lacrosse Division II National Player of the Week.  Mason also had 23 saves against Regis in their previous game and leads the RMAC and all of NCAA Division II in both total saves (167) and saves per game (13.92).  Her save total is already a new Pack single-season record.
 
Turpen leads the ThunderWolves offensively with 30 goals and 32 points while Emily Doane has 15 goals and a team-leading ten assists to ranks second on the team with 25 points.  Sydney Gunnels (17), Wasmund (15) and Sophia Rinn (14) are all key goal scorers as well.
 
Wasmund also leads the team with 13 caused turnovers while Mason has 47 groundballs and 11 caused turnovers.
 
Wasmund also leads the Pack with 36 draw controls, two more than Turpen's 34 and four more than Doane's total of 32.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have dominated the rivalries with both Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo in recent times.
 
The Mavericks have won all 18 previous meetings with CSU Pueblo since the Pack started their program in 2015.  They scored 15 unanswered goals in a 17-2 home win over the ThunderWolves on Mar. 28 and have implemented a running clock in each of the last seven meetings dating back to 2022.
 
The Mavs are 9-0 on the road at CSU Pueblo, winning last year's game on Mar. 17 by a 15-4 score after defeating the ThunderWolves, 19-1 near the end of the 2023 regular season.
 
The Mavs have also won the last 14 games against Fort Lewis, to take a 14-11 lead in the all-time series.  The Mavericks surpassed the Skyhawks for the first time in 2016 after the Skyhawks were ahead of the Mavs in the earlier years of both programs after starting their team in 2009, two years before the Mavs did in 2011.
 
The Mavs are 5-5 in Durango and have won the last five games there, including a 16-7 win on Mar. 15, 2024.
 
CMU defeated the Skyhawks at home earlier this year (Mar. 30) by a 17-6 margin.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will continue their season in next week's RMAC Tournament, which will either be in Grand Junction for the first time or in Denver for the fifth straight year.  The Mavs have advanced to the title game in each of the last four tournaments, beating UCCS in the semifinal round before falling to Regis in the championship match in all four.