The Mavericks overcame a halftime deficit to advance to their sixth consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Championship with a 17-10 win over the Thunderwolves.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Trent Pernell scored a game-high of five points for Colorado Mesa University (CMU). He scored three goals on four shots and dished out two assists to help the Mavericks advance.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder James Steinke and redshirt sophomore attackman Carson Schwark both recorded a hat trick in the game. Steinke recorded one assist in the game.
Logan Naves scored the first goal of the game for the Thunderwolves with 12:35 left in the first quarter. Sophomore attackman/midfielder Hunter Holcomb came back with a goal of his own one minute later to tie the game.
Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSUP) took a 2-1 lead with 9:23 left in the first quarter. The Mavericks came back again with a goal from Pernell off an assist from redshirt sophomore attackman Jed Brummett to tie the game. Freshman attackman/midfielder JJ Brummett and Pernell added another goal each to give CMU a 4-2 lead in the first quarter.
JJ Brummett put the Mavericks up by three goals just 39 seconds into the second quarter off an assist from Holcomb. CSUP answered with a two-goal run of their own to bring themselves within one goal with 11:05 left in the second quarter.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder James Steinke in a man-down situation attacked the cage to put CMU up 6-4. CSUP’s offense came back with a three-goal run in the final four minutes of the first half to take a 7-6 lead into the halftime break.
The Mavericks came out of the halftime break firing on all cylinders on both sides of the ball as CMU outscored CSUP 11 to three in the second half.
Steinke started the scoring off for the Mavericks in the third quarter with 12:13 left in the third quarter. Redshirt senior attackman Carson Schwark scored back-to-back goals for CMU to put them up 9-7 with 7:40 left in the third quarter.
The Mavericks scored four more goals in the quarter to take a 13-7 lead with 2:10 left in the third quarter. Brett Woolcock scored the lone goal for the Thunderwolves in the game to bring them within five goals.
Steinke got the Mavericks going in the fourth quarter as well as he fired a shot into the net with 12:59 left in the game. Pernell and Jed Brummett recorded goals in the fourth quarter to put the Mavericks up 16-8 with 6:06 left in the game.
Both teams traded goals in the final five minutes of the game as the Mavericks pulled out their seven-goal win to advance to the RMAC Championship.
CMU won the ground ball battle in the game as they picked up 50 ground balls the game to the Thunderwolves’ 26. The Mavericks also won 23 of the 28 faceoffs in the game.
Graduate student midfielder Jake Brummett went 12 of 13 at the faceoff x to help CMU win. His brother Jed Brummett was CMU’s second-leading scorer in the game with four points in the game. He recorded two goals and dished out two assists in the game.
The Mavericks will play in the RMAC Championship against Westminster College for the sixth consecutive year in a row on Saturday, May 7 at 6:00 p.m. in Salt Lake City, Utah.
