Photo: Kenny Coles

The home opener for the Mavs on Friday against non-conference opponent Fort Hayes State proved to be a battle.

The Tigers, who were recently removed from the top 25 rankings, were challenged throughout the match by the aggressive Maverick offense in their 1-0 victory over CMU. The Mavs outshot Fort Hayes in the contest, led by senior midfielder Legofi Crawford’s two attempts, but the Tiger goalkeeper made five stops to keep the Mavs off the scoreboard.

The two teams fought to a scoreless tie after 90 minutes and needed two overtimes to declare a winner. In the 106th minute, the Tigers put in the game’s only goal just inside the near post off of a deflected clear pass.

“We felt like we got a game taken away from us,” CMU head coach Josh Pittman said. “They were able to capitalize off of a mistake we made down the stretch.”

Fortunately, they were able to rebound on Sunday against South Dakota Mines with a decisive 3-0 victory.

The Mavs dominated on both sides of the ball, limiting the Hardrockers to no shots on goal in the first half and barraging the opposing keeper on offense. Despite their chances, the Mavs’ work didn’t pay off until the 57th minute when Austin Jex headed in a cross from Alan Hernandez for the first score.

Patrick LaPorta and Spencer Jackson would add their own tallies in the second half to put the game out of reach for the Hardrockers. Jackson, who recorded his first collegiate goal against South Dakota Mines, credited his team for not letting their tough loss on Friday affect how they played on Sunday.

“We dominated the whole game Friday, and things didn’t go our way,” Jackson said. “So [Sunday] we kind of took out our anger.”

Coach Josh Pittman was also impressed with his squad and plans to stay aggressive on offense throughout the season.

“Our style is to possess the ball and create chances with good ball movement and be effective and score goals,” Pittman said. “We’re not going to change for anybody.”

The Mavericks play in Golden on Friday against Colorado School of Mines (2-0-1) and then wrap up the weekend at home against the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (1-1).

mfreter@mavs.coloradomesa.edu