PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo continued its four-game homestand here Sunday afternoon with a 22-5 setback to Colorado Mesa in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.
 
With the setback, CSU Pueblo falls to 1-9 overall and 1-3 in the RMAC, while Mesa improves to 10-2 overall and 3-0 mark in the league.
 
The Pack will conclude the season-long homestand on Wednesday, April 19 with a 6:30 p.m. non-conference game against Colorado College.
 
In Sunday's game, the Pack took 35 shots and put 17 shots on goal against the Mavericks but couldn't overcome a nine goal first period by Mesa as the Mavs scored 17 of the game's first 19 goals in the first half and led 17-2 at the half. Mesa took 53 shots and put 40 of those shots on goal in the win.
 
Five Pack players scored a goal in the game and freshman midfielder Lane Lessley (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) and senior attacker Logan Naves (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Highlands Ranch) combined for 13 shots as Lessley took seven and Naves recorded six shots.
 
Mesa opened the game by scoring three goals in the opening four-plus minutes before the Pack got on the scoreboard with an unassisted goal by freshman midfielder Chris Easley (Southington, Conn./Weber) with 6:03 left in the opening half.
 
The Mavs, though, answered Easley's goal by scoring the next 11 goals over the remainder of the first period and seven-plus minutes into the second period to push out to a 14-1 lead. Mesa led 9-1 after the opening period.
 
CSU Pueblo stopped the Mavs scoring run with an unassisted goal by Naves with 6:48 left in the second period. Mesa would close the period by scoring three straight goals to hold a 17-2 lead at the half.
 
AJ Switzer scored four of his game-high five goals in the first half, while Hunter Holcomb scored all three of his goals in the opening half.
 
The Mavs scored the first two goals of the third period to take a 19-2 lead, before the Pack closed the period with a man-up goal by senior midfielder Ian Noonan (Wilmington, Del./University of Tampa) and an unassisted goal by junior midfielder CJ Rowe (Indianapolis, Ind./Concordia-Chicago) to drop Mesa's lead to 19-4 at the end of the third period.
 
Mesa would score three of the four goals in the fourth period with the lone Pack goal coming from junior midfielder Ezra Terry (Shreveport, La./Hendrix) off an assist from Naves with 4:10 left in the game.
 
Along with five goals from Switzer and three goals from Holcomb, James Steinke, Jed Brummett and Braden Lowe each had two goals for the Mavericks.
 
Mesa won the ground ball battle, 19-15 as graduate student goalie Ethan Ferrie (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) had four ground balls for the Pack.
 
The Pack caused six turnovers and Mesa committed 13 turnovers in the game, while the Pack had 15 turnovers and Mesa was credited with seven caused turnovers.
 
Mesa was dominant in the face-off circle as they were 23-for-30 in the game, while the Pack was just 7-for-30 on face-offs.
 
Both teams were strong on clears as Mesa converted 20 of its 25 clear opportunities, while the Pack were 21-for-24 on clears.
 
The game was marred by 13 penalties as Mesa was called for eight penalties and the Pack had five penalities. Despite the combined 13 penalties, neither team was strong on their extra-man opportunities as the Pack was 3-for-8 and Mesa was 2-for-5.
 
Ferrie played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pack and recorded 18 saves and allowed 22 goals, while Mesa played a different goalie in each period as Mac Bayless started in the cage and made four saves and allowed one goal. For the game, Mesa's four goalies recorded 12 saves.