The Colorado Mesa Mavericks women’s lacrosse team beat the fifteenth best team in the nation in Grand Valley State University 14-11 on March 5. The Mavericks were led by senior midfielder Olivia Hayden and junior attacker Paige Elliot. Hayden had four goals, two assists and 10 draw controls, and Elliot had three goals and five assists in the game.
“At the end of the day the most important piece was that we outworked them, I think that was very clear from the start that our work-ethic needed to be at a high level,” Head Coach Shanta Loecker said. “We knew this team would be a massive challenge, they are very fundamentally sound and deep, and you can’t outmuscle a team like that, you just have to make sure you outwork them.”
CMU struck first as Hayden was assisted by junior attacker Mary Koch with 22:24 left in the first half, and they would pour in three more scores before Grand Valley would end the run. The Mavericks out-worked the Lakers in the first half with ground ball battle was being won by CMU 21-11 and they also scored three goals off the free-position shot.
The final 15 minutes of the half were physical and it would continue throughout the game on both sides.
Elliot would take advantage on a man-up opportunity to push the lead to 6-1 shortly after a yellow card was issued to the Lakers Kelley Fitzgerald in the latter half of the first. CMU had a ton of ton of fast-break opportunities due to the 21 first-half turnovers for Grand Valley which led to the 8-2 halftime deficit. Elliot would have five of her eight points in the first half with two goals and three assists.
“We have that next-play mentality, we knew it was going be an aggressive game and we went into it practicing that throughout the week, and we just let it happen let them push us, let them do what they wanted,” Olivia Hayden said. “Eventually they were going to wear themselves out doing that and it was going to give us more opportunities and that is what we wanted to isolate.”
Grand Valley State entered the second half with new found energy and would pick up the first goal of the half with just a minute off the clock, they would score another about two and a half minutes later. The pace in this half was fast but there was a bigger emphasis on quality possessions on both sides of the ball, leading to nine turnovers for GVSU. The Mavericks would score two man-up goals this half with Blackwell and sophomore attacker Marissa Leonardi picking them up.
“There was a lot of emphasis on the intensity and upping the pressure, we weren’t intentionally fouling but we didn’t want to be scared of contact and anytime you play a good team like that you can’t shy away from contact and our work-ethic had to be up there,” Loecker said.
Elliot and the Mavericks would score their fourteenth and final goal with 13:13 left in the half. Grand Valley State would score five more, but the run came too late despite the Lakers dialed up their defensive pressure in the second half as the Mavericks had 13 turnovers. The ground ball battle was almost even as CMU had 15 and GVSU had 14 in the second half showing the effort and determination shown by both squads to close out this game.
GVSU’s goalie Abigail Dengler had 13 saves while facing 34 shots in the game.
Kenzie Blackwell had four goals and an assist on the day, and Mary Koch had two goals and one assist helping the Mavericks pick up the victory.
The Mavericks next game will be Saturday March 9 at Walker Field at 1 p.m against Lindenwood University.
