GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's lacrosse team was hoping a venue change would alter the result. 

Unfortunately for the Mavericks, it did not as the Regis University Rangers claimed the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament title by defeating the Mavs for the fifth straight year by a 12-8 Sunday evening margin here at Community Hospital Unity Field.

The tournament's second seeded Rangers had won the previous four tournament title match-ups over CMU in Denver from 2021-2024 and have now won the last six RMAC Tournament titles since 2019, excluding 2020 when the season was canceled early.

The Rangers improved to 13-4 this season with their 11^th straight win after the Mavericks defeated RU, 16-11 on Mar. 14 in the first of three 2025 season match-ups.
The top-seeded Mavs, hosting the RMAC Tournament for the first time in program history after sharing the regular season title with the Rangers, fell to 11-6 and possibly saw their historic season come to an end.

CMU won 10 of its' last 12 but fell to the Rangers twice.

The Rangers will receive the RMAC's automatic qualification into the NCAA Division II Tournament and will make an eighth straight appearance after reaching the national semifinals last year.
In Sunday's game, the Rangers jumped out to a 7-2 lead and led 9-4 at the half and 10-5 after a defensive third quarter.

The Mavs then scored three fourth quarter goals to close to within 10-7 and again 11-8 with just under six minutes left but would get no closer as the Rangers held on for the win.

Justine Anderson, one of the Mavs' four all-tournament selections, finished the game with three goals while senior Emme Rezoski had back-to-back goals just 46 seconds apart from tight angles early in the fourth quarter, bringing the Mavs within 10-7 with 11:20 left.

However, the Rangers won the ensuing draw control and went back up 11-7 with 10:26 left as they were able to prevail.

Anderson had opened the scoring just 2:17 into the game on an assist from fellow all-tournament pick Carson Dickey. 

However, Regis' Tournament MVP Shea Murphy scored three first quarter goals as the Rangers opened a 5-2 lead through 15 minutes.

Megan Bunker, who dominated the draw control game in early stages, and Murphy then scored to open the second quarter before Anderson and Courtney Havel answered back for the Mavs to close to within 7-4.

However, the Rangers added two goals from Emily Spaeth and Justine Spahr in the final 2:14 of the second quarter to re-establish a 5-goal cushion, 9-4.

Dickey then broke a nearly 12-minute third quarter deadlock with a zipping outside shot with 3:08 left in the third quarter. before Aubrey Benton, who also later scored the back-breaker with 3:21 left in the fourth quarter, responded giving RU a 10-5 lead that proved too much for the Mavs to overcome.

The Rangers finished with a 32-24 advantage in shots although CMU freshman Heather Hawkins made ten saves to keep the Mavs in the contest.  She also added a career-high nine groundballs and recorded two caused turnovers.

Senior Caroline Ohngemach, who played her final career home game, had four draw controls and a late fourth quarter goal while RMAC Midfielder of the Year and fellow senior Ali Bryant also added three draw controls, two caused turnovers two assists and a groundball.

Defender Olivia Turk was also named to the all-tournament team and recorded three groundballs in Sunday's game after tallying five groundballs and five caused turnovers in Friday's 17-6 semifinal win over Westminster.

Murphy had four goals, an assist and four draw controls in the Rangers' win while Brigit Goetsch made three saves while claiming six groundballs in net.  Bunker had seven draw controls for the victors.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Shea Murphy, Regis (MVP)
Justine Anderson, Colorado Mesa
Megan Bunker, Regis
Olivia Turk, Colorado Mesa
Madeline Schallmoser, Regis
Heather Hawkins, Colorado Mesa
Justine Spahr, Regis
Carson Dickey, Colorado Mesa
Brigit Goestch, Regis
Jordan Williamson, Westminster
Sofia Watts, UCCS