Spartans Fall in Season Finale to Colorado Mesa

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado Mesa scored seven straight second-half goals to defeat the University of Tampa men's lacrosse team 11-4 Saturday afternoon at Walker Field. With the win the Mavericks improve to 6-6, while the Spartans finish the regular season with an 11-6 record.

Colorado Mesa struck first as Josh Russell connected with Michael Beimford for a goal. Nate Tembi won the faceoff and on ensuing possession M.J. Lorenzo netted an unassisted goal to tie the game 1-1 with 9:46 left in the first quarter. After a Mavericks' goal, Andrew Smith found Kevin Castle for his third goal of the season and tied the game 2-2. Colorado Mesa netted a goal just before the end of the period to give the Mavericks a 3-2 lead after the opening quarter.

Ten minutes into the second quarter Jeremy Best found Russell for a goal to give Colorado Mesa a 4-2 lead. The Spartans responded a minute later as Lorenzo found Smith for a goal to cut the deficit to 4-3 at halftime.

Colorado Mesa came out in the second half firing and scored seven unanswered goals over the course of the third and fourth quarters to give the Mavericks an 11-3 advantage with 52 seconds remaining in the game. Less than 10 seconds later Jake Schmidt netted his ninth goal of the season for the 11-4 final.

Trevor Calleja went 12-16 on faceoffs and picked up a team-high 11 ground balls. Lorenzo and Smith each tallied a goal and an assist in the game.

Tampa concludes its second season of men's lacrosse with 11 wins, which ties last year, and advanced to its first Deep South Conference championship game.

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