The Mavericks won their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championship since 2018 and their first on the road with a 16-10 win over the Griffins.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) outshot the Griffins 54 to 29 in the game. The Mavericks had 10 different players register a point in their victory with eight recording multiple points in the game.
Redshirt senior attackman Carson Schwark led the game in scoring with five points and was named the RMAC Tournament MVP. He scored four goals and dished out one assist in the game. Schwark caused three turnovers and picked up two ground balls.
“It’s a really big honor to be named MVP. I thought there were a bunch of different guys on our team, however, that could have earned it with their performance as well. Just really happy we were able to get the job done,” Schwark said.
Four other Mavericks were named to the RMAC All-Tournament Team alongside Schwark. Freshman attackman/midfielder JJ Brummett, sophomore faceoff man Dylan Checketts, redshirt sophomore midfielder James Steinke and redshirt sophomore attackman/midfielder AJ Switzer were the other four named to the All-Tournament Team.
Schwark got the Mavericks on the board first in the game just 33 seconds into the game in transition off an assist from freshman midfielder Logan Smith. Steinke put the Mavericks up 2-0 with 13:01 left in the first quarter as he curled the crease to finish with a low shot.
Andoni Odencrantz brought Westminster College (WC) within one goal a minute later. Checketts stopped the potential momentum swing as he won the next faceoff to himself, raced down the field and buried a shot to put CMU up 3-1.
Easton Albert came back with a goal of his own to bring WC back within one goal with 6:53 left in the first quarter. Steinke and Brummett scored two quick goals to go up 5-2 with 4:12 remaining in the quarter.
Dylan Brauer scored the final goal of the first half for the Griffins with 3:29 left in the first quarter. The Mavericks got the final word in the first quarter as redshirt sophomore attackman Braden Lowe scored to put CMU up 6-3.
Switzer got the Mavericks on the board in the second quarter with 9:46 left in the first half. There was a seven-minute scoring drought for the Mavericks, but Switzer ended the drought with a goal off an assist from Steinke to put CMU up 8-3.
Freshman midfielder Levi McCoy put the Mavericks up by six with 28 seconds remaining in the first half off Schwark’s lone assist of the game. Schwark got the final say in the first half as he scored with just two seconds remaining off an assist from Smith.
“I think last weekend really left a sour taste in our mouths and I think that is something we pushed this week in practice and in general. We didn’t have a great week of practice, we had a good enough week of practice, but ultimately, we had pushed that on them,” Head Coach Vince Smith said.
I was asked what I said to them last night at halftime and I said, ‘you’re going to lose. Your legacy as seniors is going to be losing to CSU-Pueblo and being the first team not to play in the championship game and they turned it on.’ This morning I challenged them with it in the shootaround and said you guys are going to lose if you don’t come to work and come to fight. They did, they came to fight and were ready for a street brawl. I’m just really proud of them. They played the way that we know they are capable of playing.”
Odencrantz and Albert got WC in the groove offensively in the second half as they scored two goals in the opening four minutes of the half. Gavin Piva got called for a 30-second pushing penalty which gave the Mavericks a man-up opportunity.
Schwark made the man-up opportunity count as he buried a shot with 9:35 left in the third quarter off an assist from Switzer. Brummett put the Mavericks up 12-5 with 8:11 remaining in the third quarter as he dodged down the right alley, fired a shot on the run and found the top right corner.
Gabe Mein brought the Griffins within six goals as he found the back of the net with 5:43 left in the third quarter. Pernell and Odencrantz traded goals in the final five minutes of the third quarter for their respective teams, and the Mavericks took a 13-7 lead into the fourth.
WC opened the fourth quarter on a two-goal run to bring themselves within four goals with 12:18 left in the quarter. Schwark extended the Maverick’s lead less than a minute later as he shot off his defender and found the top right corner to put CMU up 14-9.
Mein scored the final goal of the game for the Griffins on a man-up opportunity off an assist from Merritt McMahon with 6:33 left in the game. Brummett and McCoy scored the final two goals of the game for CMU to give them their first RMAC Championship in four years.
“Our game plan was to put a short stick on Easton Albert. He is a great off-ball player and we thought that if we put a short stick on him, then he is going to have to become a dodger and then we are going to limit everybody else’s opportunities to dodge and that’s really what we did. Spencer Whinery and Odencrantz have great vision and they play well when they can dodge and kick. We just took that away tonight and we switched up the rhythm of what they’re trying to do,” Smith said.
Sophomore attackman/midfielder Hunter Holcomb was the Maverick’s second-leading scorer with four points all coming off assists in the game. Steinke also scored four points in the game for CMU. He scored two goals and dished out two assists in the game.
The Mavericks controlled the faceoff x in the game as they won 20 of the 29 faceoffs in the game with Checketts winning 18 faceoffs himself. CMU dominated the ground ball battle in the game as they picked up 43 ground balls to the Griffins’ 20.
CMU was not selected to play in the NCAA Tournament and will end the season with a 14-4 overall record. The Mavericks finished the season with a 5-1 record against RMAC opponents.
