GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – In a span of 48 hours, the Concordia University Irvine men's lacrosse team shocked No. 2 seed Westminster and then nearly knocked off the top-seeded Colorado Mesa Mavericks on their home field in the RMAC Championship Game.

CUI put the Mavericks on their heels and were tied with the tournament hosts at the end of the first quarter. After falling behind by five goals, CUI staged a furious comeback and again tied the contest to force overtime. 

Former Colorado Mesa player Matt Carresi apparently loves playing at Community Hospital Unity Field. Carresi finished with a game-high five goals for Concordia against his old team. All those scores came in the second half and that gave him an eye-popping nine total goals this week at the RMAC Tournament.

His fifth goal on Saturday came at the perfect time. Carresi scored with 11 seconds remaining in the fourth period to knot the game at 12-12 and force overtime.

The two teams prepared for the extra period with the first team to score claiming the win.

But shockingly, overtime would only last seven seconds. The opening face off trickled towards the Concordia goal, James Steinke for Colorado Mesa swooped in for the ground ball and then fired it home for the game-winner. Just like that an epic playoff game was over.

"It's a loss in the books, but it's not a loss for our program," said CUI head coach Jesse Foss. "I just can't say enough of our guys and the resilience they had to play back-to-back games in 24 hours, and the fight they had in that third quarter down five to chip away and make the right plays. So proud of how hard they played, and how tough they were both days to finish the season the right way."

"Unfortunately it didn't go our way in the end but I think defensively we really played a great game," said defender Braden Schneider. "Just like last year, we've been counted out and I think that fires us up to an extent that we just want to prove people wrong."

Colorado Mesa had beaten Concordia 19-9 and 17-4 in earlier meetings this season. Saturday was a completely different type of game and the pressure was on both teams in the second half down to the wire.

VIDEO - CLICK HERE for postgame interviews with the Golden Eagles

Let's take a look back at how much of a back-and-forth battle this really was between two gritty teams.

After Colorado Mesa scored the first two goals of the game, Jeremy Barnes and Garrett Burns each scored unassisted goals to pull Concordia even 2-2 by the end of the first period.

The Mavericks responded with five unanswered goals in the second quarter to put together a 7-2 lead at intermission.

But in the third period, CUI's offense sprang to life.

Chad McFadden started the comeback with a slick goal after receiving a pass from Bobby McCuskey. Moments later, Carresi scored his first of the night to cut the deficit to 7-4.

Barnes and Nick Beeson would both cash in once before the third quarter horn sounded. At that point, CUI was back in business and had cut it to just a 9-6 margin.

Barely one minute into the fourth period, Carresi fired a pass to Drew Buckley to make it just a 9-7 lead for CMU. Within 15 seconds, First Team All-Conference selection Cade Poe immediately won the ensuing face off, scooted down field with the ground ball and dumped the ball to Carresi, who uncoiled another shot past the goalie.  Suddenly, it was only 9-8 CMU.

A few passes later, Jeremy Barnes tied the game by beating his defender 1-on-1 after starting behind the cage to stun CMU and draw even at 9-9.  For Barnes, it was arguably his best game of the year as he contributed a season-high three goals.

Nick Beeson later found Carresi for the game-tying goal that made it 10-10 with under five minutes left in regulation. Then on a fast break, Carresi scored again to power CUI in front 11-10!

The Mavericks tied things up again and went in front 12-11 before things got even crazier. Carresi then forced overtime with that clutch goal with 11 seconds remaining on the clock.

Second Team All-Conference selection Daniel Yang added 14 saves against the vaunted CMU offense.

Carresi, Yang, Poe and defender Colin O'Connor (team-high five ground balls) were all named to the All-Tournament Team.

Despite the tough loss, Concordia undoubtedly announced its presence as a team that could rise to the occasion in the postseason. After winning their second MCLA National Championship at the club level in 2023, the Golden Eagles completed their first season at the NCAA DII level just mere seconds away from an automatic berth to the NCAA DII tournament.

CLICK HERE for updated CUI men's lacrosse schedule