The Colorado Mesa Mavericks Men’s Lacrosse beat Notre Dame de Namur 34-7 in their second matchup of the season in which CMU snapped their three-game losing streak while making some history along the way. The Mavericks set a school record for most goals in a single game while tieing the record for second-most goals in Division II men’s lacrosse history.
Senior midfielder Jack Griffin also broke the school record for goals in game with 10 and most points in a game with 15 after recording five assists.
This game started fast with Griffin picking up a penalty 15 seconds into the game, but the Argonauts coach berated the ref and picked up two penalties in the process giving the Mavericks a 5-4 man-up opportunity. CMU would capitalize with on this man-up with attackman/midfielder Joe Wulforst IV put a rocket past Garrett Netter to score the first goal of the game. Griffin would score four of his 10 in the first quarter. Seven different Mavericks also scored to put CMU up 10-1 at the end of the first quarter.
“It’s tough to say when you win 34-7 that you’re not happy, but I think we played a little sloppy at times, I think we kind of showed a little bit of what has kept us from being great all season,” Head coach Vince Smith said. “Too many turnovers, too many missed groundballs, not covering the backside on defense, but I mean I’m really happy with the win and I’m happy we could get back on track.”
To start the second quarter, the Mavericks would strike immediately off a faceoff with freshman attackman Jason Kauo. CMU would score four more goals before the Argonauts scored two of their own scored by Jacob McFarland and Ethan Gilbert off a man-up opportunity. To end the half, faceoff man Michael Marino was 17-23 on faceoffs and he picked up his first goal of the season, winning the faceoff and charging full-steam downhill and putting a beautiful bouncer into the top left corner.
“I’m not trying to downplay the job that Michael did and the same thing as Carter Compton, but ultimately I think we would’ve won without the faceoffs,” Smith said. “I think they were a little overmatched and overmanned, but I’m very happy he got it rolling a little bit.”
Schwark and Griffin would both score two goals in the second quarter to help get an 18-4 lead at the half.
The third quarter started with the Argonauts scoring first, an acrobatic shot by AJ Caturay would spur a short time of happiness for NDNU before the Mavericks answered back. The scoring in this quarter was almost even, the Mavericks outscored the Argonauts 4-3.
Griffin scored the final four of his 10 in the fourth quarter, with freshman defender Tanner Stopkoski picking up his first goal of the season.
Freshman midfielder Ben Austin, Senior midfielder Brandon Wilson, Schwark, and Watson all had hat tricks in the game. Wilson also had three assists in the game.
