TAMPA, Fla.— The nation's tenth-ranked Colorado Mesa University men's lacrosse team withstood several challenges from the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish but used a 5-goal run in the first quarter and a 4-0 spurt over four plus minutes in the final quarter to record an 18-12 neutral site win on Saturday afternoon here at the University of Tampa's Naimoli Family Athletic Complex.
 
The Mavericks remained unbeaten and are now 4-0 on the season heading into a Sunday afternoon clash with the host Spartans, ranked fourth in the national poll.  That game, set to begin at Noon EDT (10 a.m. Mountain) will be a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament.
 
The Sailfish fell to 4-4 with Saturday's defeat.
 
Tampa is 8-1 this season and advanced to the NCAA Championship game in 2025 after beating the Mavs, 12-7 in the first round.  They beat Montevallo, 18-7 earlier in the day.
 
Five different Mavericks scored two or more goals as redshirt juniors Conner Jensen and Erich Petersen both registered their first hat tricks of the season.  Jensen also added two assists to finish with five points.
 
Carson Points, Nik Moore and Jack Cooper all scored twice as Points added two assists and three ground balls.
 
Defensively, Brady Porter had three ground balls and two caused turnovers while Shaden Shields made 11 saves.
 
Faceoff specialist Kanyan Rhodes also went 13-for-19 and scooped up nine ground balls as the Mavs won possession on the draw, 19 out of 34 times while finishing with 38-27 total edge in ground balls.
 
Both teams finished with 40 shots.
 
The Sailfish scored the opening goal just 1:17 in before Petersen triggered a 5-0 run while adding his second goal just 5:02 after his first.  The Sailfish did claw back within 5-3 later in the opening quarter before freshman Ari Villano scored on a Luke Geisbauer assist with just two seconds remaining in the period.
 
The Mavs' offense continued to click in the second quarter as they scored four times, including two from Jensen to claim a 10-7 halftime lead.
 
The Sailfish then came back to within 10-9 before a 4-1 spurt that featured goals from Petersen, Jensen, Camden Moody and Points put the Mavs up 14-10 with 12:49 left.
 
The Sailfish then cut that deficit in half with a man-up goal with 11:24 and another goal just 10:21 later.
 
However, the Mavs clamped down defensively and held the Floridians without a goal over the final ten minutes while scoring the game's final four goals.
 
Cooper scored both of his goals in that stretch book-ending a man-up goal from Points before Dillon Pless completed the scoring with 3:20 left.
 
Braylon Baker scored six goals to lead the Sailfish.