The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Mavericks Men’s Soccer team won a hard-fought game against the Regis University (RU) Rangers in a physical game on Oct. 24.
The Mavericks beat out the Rangers 2-0, scoring both goals in the beginning of the first half and then working to hold off Ranger’s offensive advancements.
From the start, it was an aggressive game with both teams fighting to gain the advantage on their opponent. The Mavericks applied early pressure on offense, maintaining possession of the ball for the majority of the first half.
Redshirt sophomore forward Alec Fronapfel put the Mavericks in the lead 1-0 in the sixth minute of the game with a shot to the top left corner. CMU carried their momentum from the first goal and continued to apply pressure on offense.
The Mavericks dominated the initial part of the first half and maintained possession at the beginning of the game. The second goal from CMU came after a cross to redshirt freshman forward Fernando Morales, extending the Mavericks lead to 2-0.
“I thought we were pretty dominant early on,” Head Coach Jon Fridal said. “Our best spot was the first twenty minutes of the game and we just couldn’t keep that momentum.”
Possession in the game evened out after the two initial goals from the Mavericks and both sides played aggressive throughout the game. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Connor Durant held off the Rangers’ attacks and was a dominant force for the defense.
“He had a couple of big saves and did well on crosses,” Fridal said. “He is just solid and reliable as usual.”
The Mavericks did their best to hold off RU, but the Rangers managed to get a couple of shots off towards the end of the game as they applied more pressure to the defense in an effort to score. Durant held off the Rangers’ attacks throughout the second half to secure a victory for the Mavericks.
“We started off fast which is what we like to do, the rest of the game we draped off a little bit,” Durant said. “We weathered the storm, played good defensively and were working together. It was a great team win”
As the season is coming to a close, the team is eager to push themselves harder in these last couple of games to prepare them for the playoffs.
“Offensively we just do our thing, figure it out and adapt to it,” Durant said. “Defensively we just have to stay solid and I think we will be good.”
The Mavericks are set to take on the Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 29th at 5 p.m. in Golden, Colo.
