(Note: This Story was updated to reflect multiple awards given to Brody MacDonald)

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Brody MacDonald and Matt Carresi sparked the offense on Sunday to help Concordia University Irvine men's lacrosse capture its first victory of the 2025 regular season.

CUI closed out its first road trip with a hard-fought game in the season opener against No. 17 Colorado Mesa on Saturday before topping the Dominican Penguins in the weekend finale.

The Golden Eagles are now 1-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

Here's a look back at some of the standouts from those two games.

Sunday – CUI 12, Dominican 10

Against the Penguins, Brody MacDonald scored four goals in the first half to help put CUI up 5-3 by intermission. He finished with a game-high five goals and six total points.
The newcomer emerged as a key contributor in his first weekend of games wearing the Green and Gold.

After the Penguins rallied to tie the game 6-6 midway through the third quarter, Carresi stepped up and scored two of the next three goals for the Green and Gold. Sandwiched in between these two key plays was a sweet pass by Noah Pillow to Chad McFadden for a timely goal. That sequence pushed the score to 9-6 in favor of Concordia.

In a tight game in the fourth period, Pillow came up with a steal after causing a turnover near midfield and immediately found a streaking McFadden for a breakaway goal that made it 11-9 Concordia.

Dominican scored one more late goal but that pretty much sealed the outcome.

Goalie Joseph Heckel earned his first victory in his first career start at Concordia in the crease. He made four saves and played the majority of the game before Daniel Yang came on to help wrap things up down the stretch.

Saturday – No. 17 Colorado Mesa 13, CUI 8

The highly anticipated rematch of last year's RMAC Tournament Championship Game did not disappoint as Concordia University Irvine and No. 17 Colorado Mesa faced off Saturday to open the regular season.

Just like that overtime epic last April, this was a close contest for the entire first half as the game was either tied or within one score for nearly 28 of the opening 30 minutes.
The Golden Eagles trailed 5-4 at halftime but stayed within striking distance thanks to their tough defense and gritty play.

Max Texter gave maximum effort and scored two goals in the final five minutes of the second period to close strong before intermission. Texter ultimately led the Golden Eagles with four goals and an assist. Jeremy Barnes was credited with assists on two of Texter's goals.

Former Colorado Mesa Maverick and current Golden Eagle Matt Carresi was highly involved again on the attack and contributed one goal and an assist as well. He tallied the first goal of the year for CUI in a low-scoring first period that only saw three total shots find the back of the net.

Freshman Tony Pucci also scored his first career goal in a CUI jersey in the first half.

Newcomer Brody MacDonald scored twice in the second half to help the GoIden Eagles try to claw their way back into the contest.

But unfortunately for the Green and Gold, Colorado Mesa was able to tack on a few more goals than their opponent down the stretch and fend off the Golden Eagles by a final of 13-8.

Former All-American face-off specialist Cade Poe won 14 of his 20 opportunities in the X which was good for a solid 70 percent success rate. Drew Klingman also chipped in with three face-off wins and a pair of ground balls. Poe led the team with nine ground balls.

Second Team All-RMAC selection Daniel Yang was solid between the pipes in the first half and finished with nine saves. Joseph Heckel later made his CUI debut and also made three stops in the second half.

Colin O'Connor and Edward McCann IV combined for seven ground balls and four caused turnovers together on the back end.

Gaining Respect

For his outstanding play in both games, CUI's Brody MacDonald was named the RMAC Division Offensive Player of the Week. He also made the NCAA DII USILA Team of the Week as well after tallying those seven goals and eight total points during his first weekend wearing the Green and Gold.

What's Next?

Concordia will be back on the road to face Florida Southern next Sunday, Feb. 23. The Green and Gold are in the midst of five straight road games to start the regular season.

CUI will hold its home opener against nationally-ranked Adelphi on Thursday, March 6 at 6 p.m.

CLICK HERE for the CUI men's lacrosse schedule