The Colorado Mesa Mavericks rout Westminster 23-6 in a dominating win on the first day of March. CMU was led by their aggressive defense and senior midfielder Olivia Hayden who had six goals and two assists. She also had a school-record 13 draw controls on the night.
The Mavericks set the tone of this game early with the opening faceoff win and junior attacker Paige Elliott getting her first goal of the night just 30 seconds into the game. The highly efficient and attitude stricken CMU defense got busy early forcing turnovers. Also, goaltender Cami Huff came up with some big saves, stuffing Westminster shots on the crease. Westminster would get on the board just two minutes of the game, but Huff wouldn’t allow another goal till midway through the half.
Sophomore attacker Kenzie Blackwell was second on the team in total points with three goals and three assists on the day. Freshman midfielder Ashton Whittle chipped in with four goals on the day, and sophomore attacker Marissa Leonardi had three goals in the game.
Goaltender Cami Huff had nine saves on the day while facing 16 shots.
The Mavericks offense had a healthy balance of fast-break and settled 7-on-7 offense. CMU pushed when they had the opportunity but really made an emphasis on settling and getting a quality possession, with Westminster only having five players on the bench available to sub in. the Mavericks settled the ball to really tire out the Griffins and make them work more than they would’ve wanted to. At one point the Mavericks seven unanswered goals midway through the first half as they would go into the locker room with a 13-3 lead.
“We definitely had the intention of playing the first and third quarter fast, and it was 100% our plan in terms of pacing,” Head Coach Shanta Loecker said. “We are still having trouble sometimes when we want to be more patient because they just want to go.”
To start the second half, the Mavericks had an early mishap with an infraction on the opening faceoff but quickly got a turnover and Hayden scored her fifth of the day on the opposite end. CMU would turn this early goal into six more unanswered points.
The eight offensive points on the night for Hayden is a career high and it fits very nicely to be one of the four Mavericks to record a hat-trick.
CMU would go on to win 23-6 and improve to 2-0 on the season.
“I felt better about our effort level and our mental game was really strong, I think the effort throughout the game was awesome and I haven’t seen us do this all Spring,” says Coach Loecker “That said we are still smoothing out some bumps in our execution and making sure we don’t have lapses in terms of pacing.”
The Maverick next game will be Tuesday, March 5 against Grand Valley State University.
