The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) men’s soccer team secured their spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) finals Friday night after beating Regis University (RU) in a physical game.
The CMU team fought hard for the win, coming out on top 3-1 after dominating the second half to claim their spot in the championship game.
“We knew it would be a hard game, even when we beat them 5-0 in the group stage. But it’s a play off, it’s a different game, they came here for revenge,” senior midfielder Gabriel Peres said. “It’s a different game, and we could manage that to the end to win the game, but we knew it would be a tougher game than before.”
After an evenly matched, fast paced start, RU slipped up with an own goal in the 13 minute of the half, giving CMU a leg up early in the game. RU was quick to answer the goal, scoring in the 17 minute to tie the game back up.
CMU continued to apply offensive pressure to their opponent throughout the remainder of the first half with four shots, one on goal, all by separate players. The hard-fought game ended with 11 fouls and two yellow cards handed to the CMU team.
In the 39 minute of the first half, junior midfielder Gabriel Saturno placed the ball in the top left corner of the net, putting the Mavericks in the lead 2-1.
“Our formation helped the defense out, the whole team worked together to get the ball,” Saturno said. “We train to attack the ball to score the goals and sometimes we can score from the defense.”
The second half started with a string of substitutions from both sides and continued pressure from the CMU offense. As the half progressed, RU started to lose their momentum which the Mavericks capitalized on as they advanced the ball down the field with calculating passes to split the defense.
“We said that we need to move the ball quicker, you know, and be a little more aggressive. We’re a little tentative at times in the first half,” Head Coach Jon Fridal said. “So the second half, we talked about moving the ball quicker, we talked about different ways to break them down and the boys came out and really executed.”
The Mavericks dominated the second half of the game, aggressively maintaining their lead with offensive attacks.
Sophomore forward Alex Fronapfel, exploited the fractured RU defense in the 65 minute, earning the Mavericks their third goal with a clean low shot into the back right of the net.
“The game kind of opened up for us when they lost their momentum, the defense for a lot more spread out and we found a lot more pockets of space between,” Fronapfel said.
The Mavericks finished off the game with dominant possession of the ball and are looking to carry their momentum from the win into the finals.
“We just crushed legs. We got a deep team, we got good players,” Fridal said. “So just kind of keep the pressure on and try to close the game out.”
The CMU men’s soccer team is set to play Colorado Schools of Mines in the RMAC championship game on Sunday April, 25.
