GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's lacrosse team will look to extend its lead atop the Peach Belt Conference Rocky Mountain Division standings this week when the Mavericks play a pair of divisional contests against their most long-standing conference rivals.
 
The Mavericks, ranked 20^th in the latest USILA NCAA Division II Poll, are 6-2 overall and 3-0 in divisional games.  They will host winless Adams State (0-4, 0-4 PBC/RMD) on Thursday night at 5 o'clock before heading to Salt Lake City to take on Westminster (4-4, 2-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
Both games will be streamed by the home institutions on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics and tickets for Thursday's home game against the Grizzlies at the Community Hospital Unity Field can be found at the links above.
 
Westminster may not be able to provide live statistics, but if they are able to, they would be accessible here.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks played one game last week, hosting Concordia University Irvine in their home-opener on Friday (Mar. 28).  The Mavericks held on for an 8-7 win after taking a 5-1 and leading 6-2 at the half.
 
Sophomore goaltender Shaden Shields made 13 saves in the complete game victory while Connor Jensen, Dillon Pless and Logan Smith all scored two goals to lead the Mavs offensively.  Ryan Garcia also scored the opening goal, his first of his season, while Eli Bibler added the eventual game-winner with 6:61 remaining to give the Mavs an 8-6 lead after the Golden Eagles used a 3-0 run in the first 6 ½ minutes of the fourth quarter to pull within 7-6.
 
A full recap of the game can be seen here.
 
A look at the standings
 
Thanks to the Mavs' Friday night win over CUI and other results from around the Rocky Mountain Division over the weekend, CMU sits atop the standings with a 3-0 mark, a full game ahead of Westminster, which had fallen at CUI back on Mar. 19 in Irvine, California.
 
The Griffins will host Adams State on Saturday before meeting the Mavs on Sunday.
 
The CUI Golden Eagles also have a .667 winning percentage with a 4-2 record but have now dropped both games of the season series to the Mavs, who could take two more major steps towards a divisional crown and the right to host the Apr. 24 & 26 Rocky Mountain Division Tournament with a pair of wins this week.
 
CUI has just two regular season games remaining and will play at Westminster next Saturday (Apr. 12) before hosting Dominican on Apr. 19.
 
Dominican is in fourth place in the standings with a 2-4 divisional record and has swept the season series over Adams State, which is 0-4 with their four remaining games to come against the Mavs and Griffins.
 
The top four teams will qualify for the post-season tournament.  The winner of that tournament will then travel to face the Peach Belt Division Tournament winner on May 2 for an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks will enter Thursday's home game, the second of four on the limited home regular season schedule, riding a 17-game home field winning streak.
 
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 18 such contests since falling to Rollins (Fla.) on Mar. 13, 2019.
 
CMU has also won 29 straight conference home games since Feb. 20, 2016, when falling to Westminster.
 
The Mavs have a 67-8 all-time record at home, good for a .893 winning percentage.
 
They are 13-0 at home with head coach Troy Moyer at the helm of the program.
 
Standout Goalie
 
Maverick sophomore goalie Shaden Shields was named as the Rocky Mountain Division's Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday after his 13-save effort against CUI.
 
He is the only player in the division to have won the defensive award more than once this season and has more weekly honors than any other player, with CMU's JJ Brummett and Westminster's Luke Sillstrop having won two offensive awards each.
 
The Naples, Florida native, who played last year at American International in Massachusetts, was also honored on Feb. 18 after recording 20 saves in the Mavs' season-opening 13-8 win over CUI and received the honor again on Mar. 3 after recording 11 saves in an 18-8 win over Rockhurst.
 
Shields leads the division with a .569 save percentage and is second in both goals against average (9.16) and saves per game (10.25), having made 82 saves while allowing 62 goals in eight starts and nearly 406 minutes of net time.
 
One streak continues with a milestone, another falls
 
Maverick senior JJ Brummett was held without a goal in last Friday's win over CUI, snapping a streak of 28 consecutive games dating back to the final regular season weekend of the 2023, in which he had scored at least once.
 
However, he did register an assist on one of Connor Jensen's two goals that put the Mavs up 4-0 in Friday's win, while allowed him to reach the 150 point milestone for his illustrious career.
 
Brummett is just the sixth man in Maverick history to reach that mark and ranks fourth in CMU for career goal scoring with 119 markers, just four behind his older brother Jed, who he played with in a Maverick uniform in 2022 and 2023. 
 
JJ Brummett has now recorded a point in 30 consecutive games dating back to Apr. 23, 2023 and in 54 out of his 60 total career games.  Four of his pointless games came as a freshman in 2022, when he did not start.
 
Leaders
 
JJ Brummett continues to lead the Rocky Mountain Division in goals, assists and points per game.  He has scored 21 goals in the Mavs' eight games, good for a 2.63 per game average.  He is now second in total goals behind Dominican's Chase Pacenta, who has 22 goals in nine games to rank fifth in the per game average rankings at 2.44.
 
Maverick teammate Connor Jensen is part of a 3-way tie for second in those rankings with his 2.00 per game average as he and Westminster's' Sean Gragnola and Luke Sillstrop have all scored 20 goals in eight games.
 
Brummett also has 13 assists, good for a 1.63 per game average.  CUI's Jeremy Barnes is second in per game average at 1.45, recording 16 helpers in the Golden Eagles' 11 games.
 
Brummett also leads the division in both points per game (4.25) and total points (34), one ahead of Barnes, who has 33. 
 
Top D
 
The Mavericks lead the Rocky Mountain Division in goals against average holding opponents to just 70 goals in eight games, an 8.75 per game average  CUI is second in the statistics, conceding 98 goals in 11 games.
 
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 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 35-8 (.814) record, including a 16-1 mark in RMAC games and a perfect 13-0 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 73-22 (.768) in his now seven seasons with Moyer on the sidelines.
 
Know Your Foes
 
Adams State
 
The Grizzlies have posted a 0-4 record in official games this year, falling 23-1 to CUI on Sunday after dropping a 13-8 decision to Dominican last Friday afternoon.  They have also supplemented their schedule with exhibition games against club level teams.
 
They have scored 24 goals in their four Rocky Mountain Division games and have conceded 78.
 
Malik Maxwell and Alex Wilderboer have scored five goals each while Maxwell leads seventh year Head Coach Jerome Austin's squad with seven points.  He and Kegan Swain both have two assists although the Grizzlies have just seven as a team.
 
Hunter Bennett leads the team defensively with 12 groundballs and nine caused turnovers while Ryan Berger has started all four games in net, posting a 20.54 goals against average and .352 save percentage.
 
Anthony Fillerup and Matthew Knight have taken a lion's share of the Grizzlies' faceoffs, which has been an area of trouble for the team.  The Grizzlies had won just 23.1 percent (27-117) of their total faceoffs.
 
Westminster
 
The Griffins are currently atop the Rocky Mountain Division statistics having scored 100 goals in their eight games, good for a 12.50 per game average, which is three goals ahead of the Mavs' 12.13 scoring pace.
 
Sean Gragnola and Luke Sillstrop, the reigning RMD Offensive Player of the Week, have scored 20 goals each to pace the team.  Camden Stanley has also chipped in another while he and Gragnola are tied for the team lead with nine assists.
 
Gragnola is fourth in the divisional statistics for total points with 29 while Sillstrop sits sixth with 27.  Stanley is eighth with 23.
 
Christian Jones is the Griffins' main goalkeeper.  He has played in all eight games, posting an 11.23 goals against average and .525 save percentage.  He leads the divisional statistics with his 11.75 save per game average.
 
Ben Weber has 18 groundballs and a team-high six caused turnovers while faceoff man Ashton Karch has 42 groundballs to lead the team.  He has also won 56.8 percent (83-146) of his draws
 
Series Histories
 
This week's games are both against the Mavs' most often played opponents.
 
The Mavs are a perfect 32-0 all-time against Adams State and have faced the Grizzlies every year since 2011, when both teams started their programs.
 
CMU is 19-0 against the Grizzlies at home and have scored 20 or more goals against them in each of the last four and seven of the last eight meetings at the CHUF.
 
The Mavericks have played Westminster 24 times and holds a 17-7 all-time record against the Griffins.
 
WU won last year's meeting in Salt Lake on Apr. 13 by a 13-12 margin snapping a streak of five straight Maverick victories in the rivalry, which has seen three of the last four games decided by just a single goal. 
 
The Mavs are 6-4 against the Griffins in Salt Lake City.
 
The two teams played each other in each of the first seven RMAC Tournament Championship games against each other as the No. 1 and 2 seeds before Westminster was upset by No. 3 seed CUI in last year's tournament semifinals.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will again have a split week, traveling to Alamosa to face Adams State for the second time in seven days next Wednesday (Apr. 9) before returning home to host Dominican for the second time this season on Apr. 12.  The Mavs defeated the Penguins, 16-5 on Feb. 17 in San Rafael, California in what was CMU's second game of the season.