The Mavericks improved to 3-0 against conference opponents with a 22-6 win over Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSUP).
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) had 14 different players register a point in the game. The Mavericks dominated the groundball battle as they finished with a 62 to 22 advantage. CMU also went 27-32 at the faceoff x in the game.
Redshirt sophomore attackman/midfielder AJ Switzer finished with a career-high in points with a game-high six points. He scored four goals and recorded two assists in the game.
“I think we just slowed down and figured out to move it through x and keep moving it to the next side where the next dodge would come. When the next dodge came, it just opened up skip lanes for open shots and putting it wherever you want,” Switzer said.
Switzer got the Mavericks on the board first in the game as he crept behind the CSUP defense to finish off an assist from sophomore attackman/midfielder Hunter Holcomb. Freshman defender Caden Hathaway increased CMU’s lead to 2-0 just 24 seconds after Switzer’s goal as he picked up the ground ball off the faceoff, raced down the field and finished with a shot high.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Trent Pernell gave the Mavericks a 3-0 lead with 6:44 left in the first quarter. Logan Naves answered for the Thunderwolves with a goal of his own just 41 seconds later to bring CSUP within two goals.
Freshman midfielder Joey Greztic IV scored the final goal of the first quarter with 27 seconds remaining in the quarter as he got his hands free to fire a shot past CSUP’s goalie Ethan Ferrie. Redshirt sophomore attackman Jed Brummett scored his first of four goals with 9:18 left in the second quarter to put CMU up 5-1.
Brummett and his younger brother freshman midfielder/attackman JJ Brummett scored another goal each to put CMU up 7-1 with 4:51 left in the first half. Ian Noonan came back with another goal for the Thunderwolves to bring them within five goals.
The Maverick’s offense continued to execute at a high level as they scored three more goals to take a 10-2 lead going into the halftime break.
“Our scouting report read to shoot low and off stick pipe, so if you look at the stats, I’m pretty sure like 90% of our goals were low. He’s a good goalie up top, so we came into the game knowing that we wanted to shoot low,” Switzer said.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder James Steinke got the Mavericks on the board first in the third quarter as he stepped around his defender and fired a shot into the top right corner of the net. Naves came back with a goal for the Thunderwolves to bring the score to 3-11.
The Mavericks came back with a four-goal run to go up by 12 goals with 2:45 left in the third quarter. Cameron Hancock and Trevor Thompson scored back-to-back man-up goals for the Thunderwolves to bring them within 10 goals.
Freshman midfielder Weston Keller got the scoring started in the fourth quarter as he face dodged past his defender and fired a shot into the net to give CMU a 16-5 lead. Dylan Johnson came back with the final goal of the game for the Thunderwolves to bring them within 10 goals.
Jed Brummett scored two consecutive goals to give the Mavericks an 18-6 lead with 10:58 left in the fourth quarter. Switzer and JJ Brummett continued the six-goal for the Mavericks to put them up by 14 goals. Sophomore midfielder Sergio Pelayo and Switzer scored the final two goals of the game to take the 16-goal win for the Mavericks.
Graduate student midfielder Jake Brummett dominated the faceoff x as he won 15 of 16 faceoffs in the game. He also picked up a game-high 15 ground balls which came off the faceoffs that he won himself.
“I mean off the first faceoff, I just got the ground ball. Normally when I do well, I pick up ground balls. I decided that from the first one I got in, I was going to clamp, pull it behind me and pick it up, and that’s what I did. I just got more and more confident with the more ground balls that I picked up because I wasn’t relying on other people to get it, I was getting it myself which just boosted my confidence and allowed me to keep doing better. That’s really what it was just getting into a rhythm early and just building on that,” Jake Brummett said.
Jed Brummett recorded five points and picked up two ground balls in the game. He scored four goals and registered one assist in the game.
CMU outshot CSUP in the game 69 to 23. The Mavericks put 38 of their 69 shots on goal as they peppered the Thunderwolves goaltenders.
The Maverick’s next game is Thursday, April 14 at 5:00 p.m. against Quincy University.
