The Mavericks won their ninth consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Semifinal with their 22-5 win over the Grizzlies.
“Slow, sloppy, we didn’t really have a good week of practice. I think that’s what we saw today, especially in that first quarter, of course, it’s a tournament game and 90% of the team hasn’t played in an RMAC Tournament. When you call out an offense, and the guys who practiced it during the week don’t know it, we clearly are not focused,” Head Coach Vince Smith said.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) had 17 different players register a point in the game. The Mavericks had 11 different players register multiple points against the Grizzlies.
Redshirt freshman midfielder Trent Pernell scored a game-high five points. He scored four goals and contributed one assist in the game.
“Keep it simple, our offense is real system-like, and some guys have a really good day, and other guys pick it up another day. Just keep the groove and keep everybody selfless out there,” Pernell said.
CMU finished with a 66 to 24 shot advantage in the game. The Mavericks pulled 39 of their 66 shots on goal as they were able to pepper the Adams State University (ASU) goalies the whole game.
Kyle Coking got the Grizzlies on the board first in the game as he was able to get his hands free to rip a shot past sophomore goalie Nolan Hoffman. Redshirt junior midfielder Jake Keyes answered with a goal of his own to tie the game at one.
The Mavericks offense took the game’s momentum as they scored three unanswered goals to take a 4-1 win with 3 minutes left in the first quarter. Chase Rodine ended the Mavericks run with 1:53 left in the quarter as Kyle Butler gave him a perfect pass to score.
Pernell gave the Mavericks the momentum back as he scored back-to-back goals to end the first quarter.
CMU scored four goals in the opening five minutes of the second quarter as they extended their lead to 10-2. The Mavericks kept the momentum in the game as they scored four more goals in the quarter to gain full control of the game with their 14-2 lead.
Dawson Balabanoff ended the Mavericks run as he found a lane to dodge through, and he got in front of the net. He was then tripped but got the shot off as he was falling to the ground to score with 1:57 left in the second quarter.
Redshirt freshman Hayden Scherr picked up a cross-checking penalty with five seconds left in the half, and the Grizzlies chose to hold the ball to keep possession to start the second half.
Butler opened the second half by pulling his shot near side on the left-wing past freshman goalie Joey Quinn off an assist from Balabanoff on the man-up opportunity. Freshman midfielder Logan Haar scored back-to-back goals to give CMU the momentum back in the game.
Keyes scored his second goal of the game as redshirt freshman midfielder James Steinke waited for the ASU defender to slide before dishing it to Keyes for the goal. Freshman attackman/midfielder Jackson Palmer scored three consecutive goals to push CMU’s lead to 20-4.
Palmer and Haar were two of the three Mavericks to finish the game with a hat-trick.
“I feel like with the way the offense was spaced out and everyone was in the right spot. It’s hard to cover everyone, and there was just a chink in the armor and that was me,” Palmer said.
Redshirt sophomore defender Duncan Cross picked up a slashing penalty to end the third quarter.
Tyler Hubbard scored on a man-up opportunity to open the fourth quarter off an assist from Balabanoff. The Mavericks scored two goals to end the game and advance to the RMAC Tournament Championship.
The Grizzlies’ goaltenders combined to finish with 19 saves in the game. The Mavericks played all four goalies on the roster for one quarter, and freshman goalie Hans Plock had a team-high four saves.
“I’m fine now let’s get to work; you are okay. I made the first one, my first career college save, now get to work. I got the stress off, I got the nervousness off, and asked ‘are you actually going to make the save?’ I did, relaxed, and played,” Plock said.
CMU controlled the faceoff x as they won 24 of the 28 faceoffs in the game. The Mavericks also finished the game with a 55 to 27 advantage in the groundball battle against ASU.
The Maverick’s next game is Saturday, May 8 at 2 p.m. against Westminster College in the RMAC Championship.
