The Mavericks scored two goals in the final three minutes of the game to win 15-12 over the Tigers.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Trent Pernell scored a game-high of five points on his birthday. He scored four goals on six shots, and he recorded one assist in the game.
“Definitely iso ball, they wanted to be on an island which was interesting because they didn’t really slide to it so we just wanted to take them. We knew that we were more athletic and run harder, so they were sitting down at halftime, and we were ready to go. It just goes to show everything we do at practice,” Pernell said.
Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) ball movement helped to create scoring opportunities whether it be an assisted goal or to move the defense to create a dodging opportunity. The Mavericks assisted eight of their 15 goals in their win.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Drew Eickelman got the Mavericks off to a fast start in the game as he took the opening faceoff right down to the field and fired a shot 14 seconds into the game. Charlie Rainer came back with a goal of his own off an assist from Dylan Wells to tie the game at one with 9:38 left in the first quarter.
Pernell scored two goals consecutively to give CMU a 3-1 lead with his second goal coming off an extra-man opportunity with 2:23 left in the first quarter. Declan Maguire swept over the defense from left to right, beat his defender down the alley and fired a shot into the net to bring CC with one goal.
George Schlesinger and Maquire each scored in the opening three minutes of the second quarter to take a 4-3 lead with a three-goal run. Sophomore attackman/midfielder Hunter Holcomb answered for CMU as he bounced a shot under the crossbar to tie the game up at four.
Holcomb’s goal started a five-goal run for the Mavericks which resulted in their biggest lead of the game with an 8-4 lead. The Tigers came back with three consecutive goals of their own and their final goal of the first half came with less than a second left off a one-timer from Jack Haims.
“They went in and out of a zone a little bit especially when we went on that 8-4 run and that’s when we started stubbing our toe just not being smart about the way we were approaching it, running into the middle and not valuing the ball. Those types of things are going to kill us when the games get bigger and bigger,” Head Coach Vince Smith said.
Redshirt sophomore attackman Carson Schwark scored with 13:46 left in the game as he got to the front of the net in transition off an assist from redshirt sophomore defender Jake Eickelman. Schwark moved into ninth on CMU’s all-time points list with the goal as it marked his 87-career point.
CC’s offense got back into rhythm with another three-goal run to take a 10-9 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter. After the goal, the Mavericks made a switch at goalie as they took out freshman goaltender Reece Sullivan and put in freshman goalie Calvin Doucette.
“I feel like there were two or three that Reece should’ve had in the first half and at halftime when I saw that he only had two saves, I turned to Coach Moyer and said ‘make sure we get some shots on Calvin.’ Calvin had a really great week this week and that’s one of the things I challenge them inside that room. I don’t care how many wins you’ve had, I don’t care how many goals you scored, it is always going to be the next guy up who’s playing the hottest, and I think that’s what we did today,” Smith said.
Pernell came back with his third goal of the game to tie the game up at 10 with 5:45 left in the third quarter. Wells kept the Tigers in the lead as he came back with a goal of his own with an inside roll that caused his defender to fall, and he finished through the sliver between the goalie and the pipe with 3:20 left in the third quarter.
Pernell scored his final goal of the game with 13:30 remaining in the game as he swept over the top of the defense and powered a shot through his defender into the bottom left corner of the net. Dylan Brown came back with the Tiger’s final goal of the game to put CC up 12-11 one minute later.
Redshirt junior defender Duncan Cross scored the second goal of his career to tie the game at 12 with 9:43 remaining in the game. Cross’s goal started a four-goal run for the Mavericks that allowed them to take a 15-12 lead and win the game.
CMU controlled the ground ball battle in the game as they picked up 27 ground balls to the Tiger’s 22 ground balls. The Mavericks also took more shots than CC as CMU took 43 shots in the game and the Tigers took 27 shots in the game. Both teams had over 50% of their shots end up on goal in the game.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder James Steinke and Holcomb both recorded three points in the game with reversed stat lines. Holcomb scored two goals in the game and recorded one assist. Steinke scored one goal and recorded one assist in the Maverick’s effort.
The Mavericks held CC’s leading scorer Anders Erickson to record just one assist in the game as they shut him off with a short stick defensive midfielder.
“It’s tough, [Anders Erickson] a really good player. We were worried about potential matchups with poles. I think we could cover him straight up but locking him helped. It was tough because he was working to get open, but our gameplan of Anders doesn’t score or get any points worked,” Drew Eickelman said.
CMU’s next game is Sunday, April 10 at 12:00 p.m. against Colorado State University-Pueblo at Community Hospital Unity Field in Grand Junction, Colo.
