METRO SCORES Women’s Soccer Sept. 12- Home MSC  0 0- 0 Final Metro 0 2- 2 Final Goals: 1, Metro, Nason, 64:07. 2, Metro, Clarke, 75:34. Sept. 14- Home FLU   0 0- 0 Final Metro 2 3- 5 Final Goals: 1, Metro, Guante, 2:01. 2, Metro, MacDonald, 7:09. 3, Metro, Leichliter, 48:29. 4, Metro, Stefan, 49:19. 5, Metro, Nason, 64:08. Soccer Sept. 12- Home 1 2 OT O2 Final WTAM 0 1 0 0- 1 Metro 0 1 0 1- 2 Goals: 1, WTAM,Mabry, 48:00. 2, MSCD, Porras, 87:00. 3, MSCD, Grecu, 101:00. Sept. 14- Home FLU   0 0 1- 1 Final Metro 0 0 0- 0 Final Goals: 1, FLU, Roberts, 91:56. Volleyball Sept. 12- Home CCU    14 17 18 MSCD 30 30 30 Sept. 14- Home Regis 19 28 17 Metro 30 30 30 Join The Met Sports Beat (303)-556-3424

Metro’s volleyball team claimed the first two games of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after defeating both the Colorado Christian University Cougars and the Regis University Rangers.

The volleyball season is going strong, as demonstrated by their victory at the Colorado Premier Challenge, and the team’s strength lies in their defense. The Roadrunners defeated the Cougars 3-0 last Tuesday, and the Rangers 3-0 on Friday, both home games.

The games were the first two of five RMAC matches, and their first win pushed the team to No. 7 nationally. The team stands 8-2 overall, and 2-0 in the RMAC. The players are focusing on the team as a whole and concentrating on the “crispness” of their side of the net, says Roadrunner Devon Herron. Three main focal points for the team this season are defense, ball control, and free-ball execution.

“Our defense is really good,” says Herron. “Our defense right now is better than any team I’ve ever played with.”

Coach Debbie Hendricks said ball control and defense are two of the team’s strengths in particular this season. The Roadrunners also have a strong sense of leadership, which is a great quality to have. During practice, Hendricks and the team divide their time between improving individual skills and improving ball control and defense.

“The majority of our practices focus on getting better at some of the areas we need to improve on,” Hendricks said, “and preparation for our next opponent.”

Metro student and tennis player Jessica Meares has been a fan of the team for some time now.

Meares said she noticed that players who sat on the bench during previous seasons are performing really well on the court this season.

“They’re in really good shape and the coach is awesome,” Meares said about the team. “They’ve come together really well as a team.”

by William C. Moore - The Metropolitan Metro sophomore Renee Hazelwood blocks a Regis shot during the Roadrunners' win.The team's next game is against Northern Colorado Sept. 16.

The Roadrunners have shown great defensive ability throughout the first four weeks of the season and have the Colorado Premier Challenge under their belts. Herron said she is hopeful of the team doing well in the RMAC, and the team’s defensive play is giving them the potential they need.

“We want our defense to lead us through the conference,” Herron said.

The volleyball team is a smaller team size- wise, which may or may not be considered a weakness. The tallest player on the team is 5 feet 10 inches tall, but if the team is looked down on by opponents, their other traits stand tall.

“We’re doing everything we can to make up for that (team size) with our tempo and our defense,” Hendricks said.

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by William C. Moore - The Metropolitan 'Runners' senior Shawna Gilbert hits the ball over Regis defenders during a 3-0 win over the Raiders Sept. 12. Metro is 7-2 overall

I’ve chosen “A Tale of Three Talents” as my working title, because these three teams have done wonders with their talent. The problem is that while all of the teams have played like Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions, they are all going in separate directions. One team (women’s soccer) is going nowhere but up as they are being lead not by players of experience, but by sophomores who’ve seemed to do nothing but produce since coming to this program. Another (volleyball) is being lead by three seniors whose college career hourglass is almost empty. They also have almost shocked the D-II world by taking a less offensive team and wiping out their competition by using simple teamwork. Finally, the last (men’s soccer) has outplayed, out hustled and outworked their opponents, but haven’t outscored them.

Women’s Soccer: Could it get any better?

If you haven’t been to a Metro women’s soccer game (or any game, for that matter), you might want to attend one. Why? The Roadrunners have decided to buck the system as the freshmen who helped lead this team to their big season last year (Mandy Allen, Jodi McGann and Amy Leichliter) are showing no signs of the “sophomore jinx.” In fact, the three have only gotten better. Allen has not lost an RMAC game in her college career. McGann had only seven points last season, but has five points already this season, and Leichliter had 20 goals last season, but already has eight this season. The always stingy defense has decided that they are going to get even more frugal. In the team’s first six games last year, the Roadrunners gave up eight goals; this year it’s only three.

This year’s Roadrunner team has even filled in a few spots, because the team’s second leading scorer a year ago, Joslyn Brough, is out for the season with an injury, along with top five scorers Melissa Miller and Janelle Brandt. But even these big players have seen Naomi Clarke, Marina MacDonald andYmara Guanta step up. This team has gone from dominating to just plain owning their opponents. Hopefully this will add up to something bigger later in the season.

Women’s Volleyball: Surprise, Surprise

Let’s review: First, you have six players (Marina Bazana, Me-Rong Lu, Jessy Roy, Bonnie Delaughter, Devin Herron and Diana Marques) who can score at will. Then you have another six players (Bonnie Delaughter, Jessy Roy, Nicki Fusco, Beth Vercic, Shawna Gilbert and Devin Herron), who could tally up the rally points quickly last season but couldn’t win the Premier Tourney; but this season they lost the big hitters of the past and still were able to take a Premier Challenge trophy from heavily favored, higher ranked opponents.

The thing about this season’s volleyball team is that what they lack in talent, compared to the last two Metro teams, they make up for in both heart and camaraderie. This might be due to the fact that Devin Herron finally has two players who, instead of her adjusting to their wants, seem to be following her lead. Right now Roy, Gilbert and Allison are waiting for Herron to set the ball in the place and then they just up and finish the job. This team is already looking like something special.

Metro Men: UNLUCKY!

If you were to look at the Metro Athletic Web site, you would see 3-3-0 at the top of the screen, but what you wouldn’t see are the hustle stats. In the games the Roadrunners have won, they have scored two goals and when they lose, they score none. So, basically, if the ‘Runners score once, they have the ability to finish the job. The only problem is… they haven’t been able to find the back of the net.

The Roadrunners this season have dominated their opponents in time of possession (stats N/A), corner kicks (19-12), shots (35-29) and goals (4-3) (all stats from Sept. 11). So, why can’t they win? Answer: they don’t know either. When you dominate a team in important categories the only thing you really do is give yourself a better chance to win. Goalkeeper Eric Butler has done everything in to give his team a chance to win, but Alex Grecu, Zack Cousins, Antonio Porras and Preston Borrego miss opportunities to make Butler’s saves pay off. The Roadrunners can dominate every area and every stat column in the game, but if they don’t dominate the one on the scoreboard . . . it doesn’t matter.

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by Danny Holland - The Metropolitan Senior defender kristin Nelson wins a header over Mesa State sophomore Karen Eller in the 2-0 win Sept. 12.The Roadrunners are ranked fourth in NCAA Division II polls.

Metro’s women’s soccer team beat Mesa State 2-0 Sept. 12, in what was an overall defensive battle.

Neither team had many scoring chances in the game, which was scoreless after one half. The Roadrunners, ranked fourth in NCAA Division II polls, matched up very well against the number 20 ranked Mesa State Mavericks.

Mesa has a number of very quick players and that showed against the Roadrunners, a team whose speed is something to be reckoned with. During the first half, Metro was able to get into scoring position only to have Mesa turn them away at the last moment. When Mesa had the ball, they were quickly turned away by Metro’s defense. This went back and forth throughout the first half. For a while it looked as though whichever team kept possession of the ball would probably win.

The winners easily could have been Mesa if not for the slide-tackle save by sophomore goalkeeper Mandy Allen. As the first half was coming to a close, Allen was able to run out and beat a Mavericks player to the ball. Allen was able to control the loose ball, which could have been a huge momentum swing for the Mavericks. Instead, Metro was able to deny Mesa’s best scoring chance and roll into the half still tied at zero.

“During the (first) half all I really said was, ‘we have to take advantage of the opportunities when they show up,’ ” said Danny Sanchez, head coach. “This team (Mesa) is really good; they could be playing for the championship at the end of the year.”

When the second half began, opportunities started showing up for Metro. First, there was a foul called on Mesa’s end of the field, which meant Metro would get a great scoring chance right off the bat. Nothing came from that kick, but it led to a corner kick for Metro and this time the ball went in. Senior Kristin Nason was able to control the ball and blast it by the goalie.

Once that happened, Mesa appeared to lose the competitive edge they had in the first half. Metro was able to take advantage of that when senior Naomi Clarke bounced the ball off her head and into the net for the second and final goal of the match.

The Roadrunners scored a 2-0 victory and handed Mesa State its first loss of the year.After the game, Nason gave a lot of credit to Mesa’s defense.

“They came out here and wanted to stop our best scorer, who is Amy (Leichliter), and they did that,” she said.

Two days later, on Sept. 14, Metro came out and blanked the Fort Lewis College Skylarks 5-0. The Roadrunners’ triumph over Fort Lewis brings their record to 6-0, 2-0 RMAC.

Metro’s next match comes against the 5-1, 3-0 Regis Raiders. Metro will be in search of its first road win over Regis since 1999.

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