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Final Four bound!
'Runners hope for fun in the Sunshine State, NCAA championships
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

From left: Metro forwards Kira Sharp, Kylee Hanavan and Becca Mays celebrate an insurance goal against University of California-San Diego Nov. 11 at Auraria Field. Hanavan took Mays’ forward pass and buried a long chip shot past Tritons goalie Jessica McGovern to give the ‘Runners a comfortable two-goal lead. Metro held on for the NCAA Elite Eight win and advanced to the Final Four for the third time in the past five seasons. The Final Four will take place Nov. 16 and 18 in Pensacola, Fla., and is part of the Fall Sports Festival. Metro won the national championship in their previous Final Four appearance in 2004.

Senior forward Kylee Hanavan posted an assist and a second-half goal Nov. 11 against No. 3-ranked UC-San Diego to lead the Roadrunners in a quarterfinal, 2-0 upset of the Tritons at Auraria Field.

The win for the No. 12-ranked ’Runners put them in the NCAA Final Four for the third time in five years. The ’Runners won the NCAA championship in 2004.

“I think we really battled,” head coach Danny Sanchez said. “This is a great UC-San Diego team. To get them at home, I think that was huge. But the way we battled, this was our best team effort here.”

Metro’s efforts couldn’t have come at a better time. For nine of the Roadrunners’ players – including Hanavan – it was the last game at Auraria Field.

“It’s the seniors’ last game, and that hits a spot,” Hanavan said. “We didn’t want it to end here, and that’s what got us ready. We were just ready to play.”

Much like last season, Metro found themselves facing one of the nation’s best Division II teams in a do-or-die Elite Eight scenario. The only difference was that last season the ’Runners succumbed to Seattle Pacific in a shootout.

“We knew what we had to do, and if we got that done, we knew we’d find one or two goals as long as we stayed strong and challenged,” senior forward Brooke Kiefer said. “Everyone up and down the field played an excellent game.”

The ’Runners put themselves on the board in the 32nd minute when Hanavan crossed a perfect pass in front of the goal off a corner kick. Triton goalkeeper Jessica McGovern went high for the ball but was duped by midfielder Vanessa Mais, who headed the ball low in the left corner for what would be the game-winner.

“Everyone worked really hard for (the goal),” Mais said. “It was a great corner kick by Kylee, and no one was on me, so I was wide open and just put it in.”

Down 1-0, the Tritons were relentless in their attack, and the Roadrunners’ defense survived five shots on goal thanks to a strong back-three defense and stellar play from senior goalkeeper Rachel Zollner. Both teams played an extremely physical game, with the ’Runners and the Tritons tallying 13 and 12 fouls, respectively.

Zollner finished the day with a season-high seven saves in goal.

“(The defense) did a great job,” Zollner said. “A lot of the saves I had to make were off corner kicks and crosses, and there’s nothing they can do about those. But they blocked a lot of shots and cleared everything that I couldn’t get to.

“I wasn’t about to get scored on, so I just did what I had to do,” she said.

The Tritons began to show signs of fatigue in the second half and put only three shots on goal. The ’Runners had eight shots on goal altogether, with five coming in the second half.

In the 66th minute, forward Becca Mays sent a pass ahead to Hanavan, who took advantage of a one-on-one situation with a defender, juking right before sending a shot into the upper left corner of the goal from more than 20 yards out.

“I saw the defense split, and I just fed Kylee the ball, and she took a great shot,” Mays said.
It was the Tritons’ (20-2-2) first loss since a 1-0 defeat on Sept. 17 to Chico State.

“Well, it was two good teams,” Tritons head coach Brian McManus said. “They took two good chances and had one terrific shot from the kid (Hanavan), so what can you say?”

“We talked before the game about the individual battles within the big picture,” Sanchez said. “I think we won enough of those individual battles to get the results at the end of the day.”

With the win, the ’Runners (22-2) move onto the NCAA Final Four at the Fall Sports Festival in Pensacola, Fla. The University of Tampa and Grand Valley State will meet Nov. 16 at noon in semifinal action, followed by the Metro/West Chester match. The winners of the two semifinal games will play Nov. 18 for the national championship.

“We’re ready and we want to win it all, so this was a big hump to get over,” Mais said. “Now we’re ready for the big show.”