Colorado Mesa University (CMU) continued to kick to their tune Friday night, steamrolling past Colorado Christian University (CCU) 6-0 to stay undefeated at home this season while senior Kevin Del Mazo broke the school assist record, surpassing Moshe Perez for the all-time milestone (22).
The record breaking assist came in the 22nd minute. Del Mazo sent a nifty pass past two other players and found Kevin Chavez, who netted is second goal of the game and sealed Del Mazo’s name in CMU record books with his 23rd career assist.
“I actually didn’t know I tied [the record],” Del Mazo said before Friday’s game. “After that one game I tied it everyone came up to me and I was like oh, pretty cool. But I want to do whatever’s best for the team, I’m not thinking of personal stats.”
Five different players scored for the Mavericks, showing that multiple offensive weapons makes them a tough team to defend in the open field.
The Mavericks got off to a quick start against CCU. Lawan Abary used his speed to push the ball downfield and found Chavez in the center of the box. The forward did the rest to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Chavez scored his second goal and made it 2-0 Mavericks.
CCU had trouble splitting Maverick defenders near midfield, and didn’t put much pressure on CMU keeper Briley Guarneri, who recorded his first shutout on the year. The Mavericks, meanwhile, made their mission clear after Del Mazo sent another kick into the box where James McGhee pushed the lead to 3-0 with a header goal, his third score on the season.
CMU kicked 14 shots in the half and had seven corner kicks. CCU only managed two shots in 45 minutes of play.
Peter Vandam scored his first goal of the season for the Mavericks, pushing the ball to the right side of the goal just past Cougars goalkeeper Zach Roberts, who allowed six goals on the night but did manage five saves.
Conner Lowdermilk joined the actionand scored on a kick 20 yards out. Abary scored his RMAC leading eighth goal on the year on a cross to push the blowout to 6-0 and leaving little doubt it would be another CMU victory.
With the performance, the Mavericks have outscored their previous two opponents 12-2 and have not trailed in 180 minutes.
CMU kicked 30 shots in the game, a season-high, with 11 coming on goal. CCU managed just three total shots in the contest, with only one of those on goal.
The Mavericks moved to 4-0-2 on the season and 2-0-1 in conference play. MSU-Denver will visit the Mavericks on Sunday, Sep. 23 at 1 p.m. as CMU plays for their 10th straight victory on Walker Field.
