DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University women's lacrosse team battled with the nationally-ranked and top-seeded Regis University Rangers, taking a 7-5 lead mid-way through the second quarter before the Rangers scored the next four as part of a 11-2 run that the hosts used to take a 17-10 win over the Mavericks in the semifinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon here at RU's Turf Field.
 
Maverick senior Carson Dickey wrapped up her career with four goals to lead the Mavs but could not match the 3-prong Ranger attack of Aubrey Benton, Maggie Schipfer and Lexie Springman, who combined for 14 of the Rangers' goals.
 
The nation's 20^th-ranked Rangers improved to 14-5 overall and swept the season series from the fourth-seeded Mavericks, who finish the 2026 campaign with a 6-12 mark.
 
The Ranger scoring trio all have more than 50 goals this season and hold the top three spots in the RMAC goal scoring statistic.  Schipfer, named as the RMAC Attacker of the Year earlier in the day, scored five in Thursday's win and now has 59.
 
The Mavs have now seen their season come to an end against the Rangers in post-season games every year since 2016, excluding the 2020 COVID abbreviated campaign.
 
The two teams had played each other in the last five RMAC Tournament championship games after meeting in the national quarterfinals in 2019 and the RMAC Tournament semifinals in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
 
The Rangers will once again play in Saturday's championship game against No. 3 seed Westminster, which pulled a mild 13-10 upset over No. 2 seed UCCS in the late Thursday semifinal.
 
In Thursday's win, the Rangers were able to convert on five of eight free position shot attempts throughout the game and led after a tight first quarter by a 4-3 score.
 
They then went up 5-3 just 19 seconds in to the second quarter on Springman's second of four goals before the Mavs rallied to score the next four goals to take a 7-5 lead at the 7:57 mark of the second quarter.
 
Cameron Flynn had two goals in that stretch, including a free position tally.
 
However, the Rangers answered with three free position shot goals, including two in woman-up situations to  match the run and take a 9-7 lead.
 
Dickey then trimmed the deficit to one with a goal with just four seconds remaining in the second quarter.
 
However, the Rangers went on to win the third quarter by a 3-1 count before scoring the first four goals of the fourth to put the game away.
 
The Rangers finished with a 32-23 advantage in total shots and had narrow 12-11 ground ball and 16-13 draw control edges.
 
The Mavericks were whistled for 17 fouls while the Rangers were called for nine.
 
Sofia Chock joined Dickey and Flynn as a multiple-goal scorer with two while Devon Morris and Sadie Chappuis also scored.  Morris also had two assists and four draw controls in her final career game while Chappuis, a sophomore, added an assist and two ground balls.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Heather Hawkins made nine saves and finished the campaign with 153, just three shy of the CMU single-season record of 156, which has stood for 15 years.
 
Sophie Astone, one of the Mavs' other seniors, also had seven draw controls after registering 11 in the Mavs' regular season finale against CSU Pueblo.  She finished the season with a team-high 52.
 
Dickey scored a team-high 35 goals this season and completes her career with 106, sixth most in program history.
 
Notably, senior defender Olivia Turk started her 69^th straight game as a Maverick and ends her career as the program record holder for both games played and started.