SALT LAKE CITY— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks scored three times in the latter stages of the fourth quarter as they picked up a massively important 13-11 Peach Belt Conference/Rocky Mountain Division men's lacrosse win over arch-rival Westminster University on Sunday afternoon here at the Griffins' Dumke Field.
 
The Mavs, now 8-2 overall, extended their winning streak to four straight games and moved to 5-0 in the division, while opening a 1 ½-game cushion on Concordia University Irvine (4-2 RMD) and a 2-game cushion on the Griffins, who fell to overall and to 3-2 in the division.  The nation's 20^th-ranked Mavs have already defeated CUI twice this year and would win any direct tie-breakers with the Golden Eagles for post-season tournament hosting rights.  The Mavs would also win any potential 3-way tiebreakers involving both CUI and WU, who will play each other for the second time here next Saturday (Apr. 12).
 
Meanwhile, CMU could wrap up at least a share of the divisional title as soon as Wednesday when they head to Alamosa, Colorado to play winless Adams State (0-6), a team they defeated 22-5 at home just three days ago on Thursday.  With a win in that game, which will be played at 1 p.m., earlier than the originally scheduled 3 p.m. time, the Mavs could then seal up an outright title and guarantee themselves of hosting Apr. 24 and 26 divisional tournament with a home win over Dominican next Saturday (Apr. 12). 
 
The Mavs will then wrap up the regular season with a Apr. 19 home re-match against the Griffins who will need to win out, have the Mavs fall to either Adams State or Dominican, and defeat the Mavericks to claim a share of the title and potentially snag hosting rights away.
 
In Sunday's victory, the Mavs trailed only one time at 3-2 late in the first quarter but were never ahead by more than three goals.
 
CMU led 8-6 at the end of the third quarter and took a 9-6 lead 49 seconds into the final stanza on an unassisted Erich Petersen goal.  The Griffins then scored 1:50 later to pull back within two at 9-7 before Deuce Kirschke answered right back to give the Mavs a 10-7 lead with 11:47 to go.
 
The Griffins then rallied to tie the game at 10 over the next four-plus minutes, leveling the game on a Ridge Crouch man-up goal with 7:37 to go.
 
However, the Mavs scored a man-up goal of their own with 5:56 left to take an 11-10 lead as Dillon Pless fed Jack Cooper for what was Cooper's sixth goal of the week.  The Australian had a career-high five in Thursday's blowout win over Adams State.
 
Julius Petersen the scored CMU's 12^th goal and the official game-winner on an Eli Bibler assist with 3:16 left before Pless scored the clincher on an Erich Petersen assist with two minutes to go.
 
WU would add a late tally in the waning moments to complete the scoreline.
 
The Mavs finished with a 54-39 advantage in total shots throughout the game and put 32 of their shots on target.
 
Westminster goalkeeper Christain Jones kept his team in the game, making 19 saves while Shaden Shields did his part for the Mavs, making ten stops in the complete game victory.
 
Eleven different Mavericks scored in a balanced offensive attack as Pless and Ethan Points both finished with two goals.  Pless and Erich Petersen both had three points.
 
The Mavs were also able to win 15 of the game's 26 faceoffs as Mike Edwards won 13 of 22 while scooping up eight groundballs.
 
Caden Hathaway also recorded three caused turnovers and five groundballs to  lead the Mavs' long poles.
 
The Mavericks have now won six of the last seven match-ups with the Griffins.  Four of the last five games, including Sunday's tilt, have been decided by one or two goals, including both of last year's meetings that the home team won by a 13-12 count.