MENA, Arkansas -- Northern made the long trip to Mena, Arkansas and came away with a disappointing 2-1 loss to Rich Mountain.  The Mavs started strong creating several chances that forced the Bucks goalkeeper into making great saves, but couldn't find the net.  They did beat the keeper on one occasion, but a Rich Mountain defender cleared the ball off of the line.  Rich Mountain created some chances of their own in the first half, but Maverick goalkeeper, Spencer Braswell, made two saves to keep the game scoreless at the half.

Rich Mountain opened the second half with a goal that deflected off of a poor clearance by a Maverick defender.  It looked like the Mavs would answer with a goal of their own less than a minute later with a powerful shot by Jesus Aleman, but once again the Rich Mountain goalkeeper made a diving save to keep the Mavs scoreless.  Rich Mountain tacked on another goal minutes later to go up by two goals.  Northern came to life after the second goal and pressured the Rich Mountain goal constantly for the remaining thirty minutes.  Jaron Frye finally broke through for the Mavs with a close shot into an empty net drawing the Mavs within one.  Minutes later it looked like Northern would have a chance to even the game with a penalty kick, but the foul in the box was negated by an offside call on the Mavs.  Rich Mountain was able to absorb all of Northern's chances for the remainder of the game to pick up the win giving the Mavs their first conference loss.

"This was a strange game," said coach Michael DuRoy.  "In some ways we played very well, and in others we were terrible.  The most disappointing thing about this game is it exposed the same issues that we have had for two years.  I have to find a way to get these guys to dig in and fight when things don't go our way.  To their credit they did after about ten minutes of poor effort in the second half.  We are still in first place in the conference, but our issues are still present, and we are running out of time to fix them." 

The Mavs travel to Murray State College Sunday for a battle between the two teams that are tied for the conference lead on Sunday.

The Mavs are 8-3 on the season.