The Mavericks assisted 81.25% of their goals to take down the Griffins 16-13 in their home opener.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) dominated the ground ball battle as they finished with a 52 to 32 advantage on the ground. The Mavericks went two of three on extra-man opportunities with both man-up goals coming within two minutes of each other.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder James Steinke scored a game-high seven points against the Griffins. He scored two goals and recorded five assists in the game. Steinke also picked up seven ground balls in the game to help contribute to the Maverick’s ground ball advantage.
“I think last year, [the Griffins] took that game from us in the [Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship and in the offseason, I worked my hardest to visualize this game and visualize winning at the end of it. I think a lot of it is just what we did in practice this week and how hard we worked there. I think why I did so well today,” Steinke said.
Westminster College’s (WC) Skyler Weathers got the Griffins on the board first in the game with two consecutive goals that came off step-down shots. Weathers’s first goal came on a man-up opportunity as redshirt junior defenseman Tanner Stopkoski was called for a push from behind penalty which gave WC a 30-second extra-man opportunity.
“When I called that timeout and it was 2-0, we had turned it over two or three times, we shot the ball right into [Beilman’s] stick which we had talked about all week. I said, ‘we just have to wake up, make the choice to wake up.’ We did, we came back and won that quarter. That’s probably the thing I’m most proud about today, is winning every quarter. We never finished behind in a single quarter or at least even like at halftime, scoring that one right before halftime was big for us,” Head Coach Vince Smith said.
The Maverick’s offense got in a rhythm in the final three and a half minutes of the first quarter. Redshirt senior attackman Carson Schwark scored the Maverick’s first goal of the game as he cut behind his defender, caught a pass from Steinke and finished in the bottom left corner.
Freshman midfielder Levi McCoy kept CMU rolling as he dodged down the alley and beat Gavin Beilman with a twister shot to tie the game at two with 3:02 left in the first quarter.
In the final ten seconds of the first quarter, sophomore midfielder Sergio Pelayo cut through the heart of the defense. Steinke threaded the needle with a pass to Pelayo, and he fired a shot past Beilman with less than one second left in the quarter to take a 3-2 lead.
Mike Spaeth tied the game at three as he won his individual matchup to score unassisted just 48 seconds into the second quarter.
The Griffin’s offense continued to roll in the second quarter as they scored three more goals to take a 6-4 lead with 5:21 left in the first half.
The Mavericks again got rolling late in the quarter scoring three unanswered goals in less than a minute and a half to take a 7-6 lead with 2:21 left in the second quarter. Redshirt sophomore midfielder/attackman scored two of his four goals in the second quarter with both coming off assists.
Easton Albert answered the Mavericks run with his third goal of the second quarter to tie the game at 7 going into the halftime break.
CMU’s offense flipped the script and jumped out to a 10-7 lead with 11:45 left in the third quarter. Redshirt junior long-stick midfielder Hayden Scherr gave CMU the three-goal lead as he scored a behind-the-back shot that found the bottom left corner off a rebound.
Spencer Whinery answered with his first goal of the season to try to stop the Maverick’s momentum. CMU wasn’t done yet though as Steinke and sophomore attackman/midfielder Hunter Holcomb each scored a goal to put the Mavericks up 12-8 with 3:53 left in the third quarter.
WC scored two goals of their own from Whinery and Weathers to bring the Griffins back within two goals. Redshirt senior midfielder Jake Keyes answered with his lone goal of the game to put CMU up 13-10 with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
Both teams traded goals to open the fourth quarter as Gavin Piva brought the Griffins within two goals as he scored off a quick stick goal on the crease. Freshman midfielder/attackman JJ Brummett and Switzer scored the final two goals of the game for the Mavericks to put them up 16-12 with 5:01 left in the game.
Whinery found the back of the net with nine seconds left in the game for his third goal of the season.
The Mavericks dominated the faceoff x against the Griffins as they won 24 of the 32 faceoffs in the game. Sophomore faceoff man Dylan Checketts went 22 of 29 in the game as he served as the main faceoff man for CMU.
Freshman goalie Reece Sullivan recorded eight saves in the first home game of his Maverick career.
“[The win] was surreal. It was the best feeling because I was nervous that they were going to come back, but we secured it and it felt great,” Sullivan said.
Beilman finished the game with 17 saves in the game as he stood tall in between the pipes for WC.
The Maverick’s next game is Saturday, March 5 at 1:00 p.m. against Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo.
