The Colorado Mesa University men’s lacrosse team’s next three games will be some of the biggest of the season for them. After beating their first ranked opponent in Lynn University last week, the Mavericks will be tested significantly in their next three matchups.
CMU will start these games with their home opener against Rollins College.
RC (3-1) is coming into the game shooting a healthy 33 percent. Rollins only loss came at the hands at number 20 Wingate University. The Tars average 42.75 shots per game with 14.5 goals per game, scoring 58 total goals on the season and racking up 30 assists as well.
This Rollins’ offense is led by their attackmen, Ryan Dunn, who has scored 12 goals and tallied three assists on the season, followed by senior Greg Taicher has seven goals and five assists through four games. The Mavericks will have to neutralize Dunn’s finishing ability on the crease or decide to play a tight zone defense to neutralize the role of Dunn in the offense.
Defensively, RC is led by junior goaltender Landon Salie and senior defenseman Evan Schimek who has caused eight turnovers this year and second on the team–outside of the faceoff–with nine behind Salie who has 10.
“Their keeper does a good job matching stick and attacking low shots, so we will need to change plains on shots, and get him moving from pipe-to-pipe with good ball movement,” Head coach Vince Smith.
After Rollins, CMU will spend their spring break in Florida when they play the University of Tampa and Florida Southern College. CMU will play Tampa (3-4) who has been one of the hotspots for Division I transfers over the last five years.
The Spartans’ three of their four losses have been against ranked opponents: number 10 Belmont Abbey, number two Adelphi and number 12 Lindenwood. This Tampa team is averaging 43.17 spg and 13 gpg with 78 goals and 43 assists on the season. They are shooting at an efficient clip of 29.2 percent.
Sophomore attackmen Colin White has scored 14 goals and two assists through six games, followed by senior midfielder Matt Vetter who has 13 goals and seven assists through the season. Senior attackmen. Andrew Kew could cause some issues for the Mavericks because he is a balanced attackman looking to score whether it is off an assist or a goal. Tampa’s man-up offense is ranked eleventh in the nation with a 41.7 percentage.
“I anticipate it to be a really tough physical lacrosse game because it is going be a must-win game for both teams, Tampa is 3-4 right now which is not what they traditionally are and they have lost to probably NCAA qualified opponents,” Smith said.
Tampa has put themselves in the position that they will need to win out to get into the NCAA tournament without an automatic bid. That sounds a little weird seeing how they have only played seven games, but with 17 games in a season, four loses can push you onto the bubble even if they were quality loses. The Spartans will come into their game against the Mavericks with a chip on their shoulder to prove that they deserve to be in the tournament.
After Tampa, comes Florida Southern College who are currently 2-3, like Tampa, their three losses come from ranked opponents. The Mocs are averaging 17.8 gpg and 55 spg with a .324 shooting percentage.
“It seems to be a big upcoming three games for us and it could rewrite our ship for national tournament play implications and obviously a lot has to happen on the backstretch, but we are in good shape,” Smith said.
Defensively the Mocs are led by senior long-stick midfielder Austen Lison with 10 caused turnovers and senior defender Blaine Preston who has nine caused turnovers. They are anchored by freshman goaltender Maxwell Freestone who has a .523 save percentage and 45 saves through five games. Junior defenseman Skyler Sarkisian has four goals and two assists leading the defense in points.
The Mocs love to push the pace and get out in transition to get quick goals just like the Mavericks so this game will be played at a very fast pace and could come down to possession time, taking smart shots, and trying not to overcommit on defense.
CMU plays Rollins College on March 13 at 7 p.m. at Walker Field and they will play Tampa and Florida Southern over Spring Break on March 20 and March 24.
