In the first road trip of the season Colorado Mesa University men’s soccer team went unbeaten, winning the first game against Adams State 1-0 and settling for a 1-1 tie against Fort Lewis Sunday.
On Friday the Mavericks took on Adams State in Alamosa. Seven games in and playing their first match away from Walker Field, a change in venue did not halter the Mavs’ success.
Halfway through the first half Trentin Atkin hit a cross that caught the head of Malik Mennana. Mennana scored his second goal of the season. Throughout the game the Mavs continue to put the pressure on the Grizzlies defense. In total CMU had 16 shots, including six on goal. Adams State had a mere three shots total and only two on goal.
Still, CMU couldn’t turn those shots into goals and had to settle for the 1-0 victory. Briley Guarneri got his sixth win of the season and his fifth clean sheet in seven games, giving up a .42 goals against average on the season.
On Sunday against Fort Lewis it took 74 minutes for a team to get on the scoresheet. Both teams scored off a penalty kick, with the Skyhawks striking first. Salifu Jafa beat Guarneri to give the hosts the lead. The lead lasted a little over four minutes. Moshe Perez stepped up and scored his fourth goal of the season.
The game went into overtime, where neither side could take advantage and for the first time all season, CMU settled for a tie.
Guarneri was unable to get the clean sheet, but did contribute greatly with four saves on the day. Perez lead the team in shots with four.
The Mavs barely outshot the hosts, with a margin of 14-11 total and a slight advantage with shots on goal with 6-5 respectively.
Even without ending up on the scoresheet this weekend Kevin Del Mazo is the leading goal-scorer for the team with four goals tied with Perez, Malik Mennana and Benji Delgadillo are behind them with two goals each. Del Mazo also leads the team with four assists.
Despite the best overall record in the RMAC, a 2-1-1 record in the conference put the Mavs in 4th place. Colorado School of Mines, Metro State and Fort Lewis are above CMU.
Up next for CMU is a trip to Salt Lake City to take on Westminster College on Friday at 3 p.m. Westminster is a conference-worst 4-6 with a 0-4 record in the RMAC Conference. They currently have a four-game losing streak, including losses to both teams the Mavs faced this past weekend.
After the trip to Salt Lake CMU returns to Walker Field on Sunday to take on South Dakota School of Mines. The Hardrockers are 3-2-2 overall with a 2-2 conference record. They were able to defeat Colorado Christian University on Sunday to end a 2-game losing streak. Kick-off is scheduled for noon.
