mfreter@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

The men’s soccer team scored at will in its first scrimmage of the fall season. The Mavericks put up five goals in the first half en route to a 9-1 victory against Trinidad State Junior College. Midfielder Marco Escobar and forward Brandon Burton led all scorers with two goals apiece. Along with Escobar and Burton, five other Mavericks tallied goals on the day, including Gavin LaFollette, Alex Hernandez, Patrick Wall, Tim Hofer and Nestor Escobar. Assistant coach Jonny Broadhead was certain that his team would be excited and ready to take on their first opponent of the new season.

“The boys have been working hard and they’re very confident in themselves,” Broadhead said. “I knew they wouldn’t treat this game lightly.”

CMU wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as LaFollette headed the ball into the goal off of a free kick in the ninth minute. Escobar tallied his first goal of the day five minutes later when he picked up his own rebound off of the crossbar and fired the ball past the Trojan keeper. The Mavs continued to be aggressive and were able to close out the half with goals from Hernandez, Escobar and Wall to put the score at 5-0.

The second half was no different for the Maverick offense as Hofer and Burton put in consecutive goals in the 51st and 53rd minutes. Burton added his second point of the match with a shot that went over the goalie’s outstretched arms in the 71st minute. The final score of the day came off of a shot from the left wing by Nestor Escobar that would put CMU up 9-0. After 85 minutes of stifling defense by the Mavs, the Trojans were finally able to muster their only shot and goal of the day.

Although it was a scrimmage, the players and coaches were very pleased with how the team looked in its first competitive match thus far. Burton was impressed with his team’s offensive mindset.

“I thought we did pretty well and we are able to score goals early,” Burton said. “The mentality so far this year has been to work hard and the results will come.”

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from the game.