The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) men’s lacrosse program is on a roll right now. The squad finished the regular season on a 13 game win streak, and on the verge of making the NCAA tournament. In the middle of things for the squad is redshirt junior James Steinke, who is having another phenomenal season.
Making the NCAA tournament in lacrosse is one of the more challenging feats in college athletics. The tournament only takes 12 teams, six from the north region and six from the south. With the regular season being less than 20 games, one bad loss can eliminate you from post-season contention.
For Steinke and the rest of the 2019 recruiting class, getting to this point has taken a lot of patience. In Steinke’s first season, the Mavs were 7-0, when the pandemic canceled the season. In his second year, the season was cut short and despite going 9-2, the team missed out on the NCAA tournament. It wasn’t until his third season in the program where the team played a full schedule.
“It was super weird getting used to it. We go on a spring break trip every year and we’ll play Florida schools. Last year was my first spring break trip, and most guys are supposed to go on four of those,” Steinke said.
Last year, Steinke became the workhorse of the potent Maverick offense. Steinke led the team in scoring with 61 points, scoring 33 goals, while racking up 28 assists, and he was rewarded as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference midfielder of the year for the second time in his career.
“It’s super cool,” Steinke said. “I’m super grateful they think I’m good enough to win it two years in a row. I’m thankful for my coaches, because they put me up for it, and they believe in me.”
Despite bringing in numerous awards, and being one of the leaders offensively for the Mavs, Steinke has only started three games in his career. The squad will start their faceoff lineup in hopes to win possession, to make an offensive push, which allows Steinke to sub onto the field.
“I’ll say it’s a pretty unique opportunity to have a guy who received votes as an All-American last year to come off the bench. It’s not a typical situation to be in, and I think it says a lot about James’ [Steinke’s] character. He’s about team success over individual success,” head coach Troy Moyer said.
To begin the season, the Mavs were on the road a lot, playing non-conference games against some of the best DII lacrosse programs in the nation. To end the season, they just closed out their RMAC portion of the schedule, going a perfect 6-0.
Domination in the RMAC is something the CMU men’s lacrosse program has become accustomed to. In the seven years CMU has been a member of RMAC lacrosse, the program has only lost five conference games. Due to such success in the RMAC, it could be hard to play at a high level all season long.
“That’s one of the toughest parts to be honest with you. We’ll play Tampa, who’s ranked number three, then we’ll go play Rollins, who is ranked number seven, and we’ll play really good games against those guys. Then, we’ll play CSU- Pueblo, an unranked opponent who has won one game all year. I would say the hardest part is getting mentally ready for a game like that,” Steinke said.
Last weekend, CMU beat both Adams State University, and Colorado State University-Pueblo, giving the Mavericks a 47-0 combined record against both schools.
It could be easy to fall into a trap, and play down to their opponent’s level. However, first year head coach Troy Moyer has done a great job getting the team ready each game.
“He’s doing a great job. I think what he’s done best is he hasn’t really pushed his own agenda on our team. He was here for three years before with us, and he knew what we were about, he added on top of what we were already doing,” Steinke said.
To close out the season, because CMU won the regular season championship again, they will host the postseason RMAC tournament. Should CMU win it, they will be back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018.
