METRO SCORES Women’s Soccer Sept. 26- Home                 1 2 WTAM    0 0- 0 Final Metro       0 1- 1 Final Goals: 1, Metro, Pyke, 59:29. Sept. 28- at Omaha, Neb.              1 2 OT O2 Metro    0 0  0    0- 0 Final UNO     0 0  0    0- 0 Final Saves: Metro, 10, Allen. UNO, 6, Price. Men’s Soccer Sept. 26- Home              1 2 ERU      0 0- 0 Final Metro    4 2- 6 Final Goals: 1, Metro, Porras, 10:16. 2, Metro, Grecu, 12:54. 3, Metro, Porras, 18:06. 4, Metro, Porras, 18:47. 5, Metro, Manson, 55:35. 6, Metro, Cousins, 76:35. Volleyball Sept. 26- at Kearney, Neb. Metro 30 27 21 28 UNK 28 30 30 30 Sept. 27- at Hays, Kan. Metro 24 30 30 30 FHSU 30 26 27 24 Upcoming Metro Athletic Events Volleyball Friday, Oct. 3 7 p.m. at Auraria Field Metro (11-4,5-1 RMAC) vs. NM Highlands (6-5) Saturday, Oct. 4 2 p.m. at Talequah, Okla. Metro (6-3-1,2-3-1 RMAC) vs. Midwestern St. (6-3)

For the past two weekends, the Roadrunners men’s soccer team was able to beat CSU-Pueblo and Colorado Christian for their first two conference wins, and improve upon their undefeated record in non-conference play.

Though they tied with Regis on Sept.19, the ‘Runners were able to make the Rangers earn it while taking the win away from a previously ranked opponent.  

On Sept. 26, Metro outplayed Embry College in every way possible, limiting the Eagles to only one shot the entire game; no corner-kick opportunities and a day off from playing defense as the Metro men scored seven times on 26 shots.

The Roadrunners came out strong, firing early and often, but none would have the game Antonio Porras had, scoring a hat trick in under 20 minutes of action.

He would score three of Metro’s four first-stanza goals, with teammate Alex Grecu scoring the second goal of the game. In the final half of play the ‘Runners would see two more goals on the scoreboard as Jeff Manson and Zack Cousins added two more before the final whistle.

Afterward, Cousins talked about the game: “The best thing about the whole incident is that Danny Holland and Jeff Manson (had) some time to play,” Cousins said.

“They (had a chance) to have some fun when they are usually supporting on the bench.”

Though the Roadrunners are riding a current three-game winning streak, the team’s turnaround didn’t come about until after a hard-fought game against Regis. In that game Metro took it right at the Rangers the entire game and ended up with a tie, even though the two teams were almost even in shots (Metro-15, Regis-17); saves were dead-even at four apiece, and fouls (Metro-13, Regis-19).

“It’s a rivalry between us,” Grecu said . “And when we play against each other we step another level,” The teams renewed their rivalry and will get a chance to settle it one more time on Oct. 24 at Auraria Field.

Metro, through this game against Regis, turned the team around as it marched into Pueblo and looked right into the eyes of its opponents.

Metro scored its first goal in over 200 minutes of play, when in the 21st minute of play, senior Mike Abeyta sent a pass to Cousins who pulled the trigger and did not miss the mark. The Wolves finally broke down again, allowing Grecu’s shot to bounce off the net and onto the foot of Antonio Porras, who would end the game with just under eight minutes left to play.

"Metro forward David Gordon gets tangled up with a player from Embry Riddle during a game Sept. 26. Metro won 6-0."

Photo By William C. Moore

“We took advantage of a decent team; we got a goal early on them and . . . we just kept bringing it to them, and I caromed one off the post and Porras put it in the back of the net,” said Zack Cousins. 

The team improves to 3-0 when scoring the first goal, and 4-0 overall with a 3-2 win over Colorado Christian this past Wednesday. “Scoring the first goal is key; it feels good. And the three-game win streak; it feels good,” Cousins said. “But you know what? It’s only gonna get better.”

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Metro's Meisha Pike (4) recieves congratulatory hugs from teammates after scoring the only goal in the Sept. 26 game against West Texas A&M.

Photo by Joshua Buck

Metro women’s soccer might be among the best in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) with a record of 4-0-0, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get pushed to their limit each game.

That was the case against West Texas on Friday when, after going most of the game knotted at zeros, the Roadrunners finally got the game-winning goal from Meisha Pyke for her first goal of the season. She couldn’t have scored, however, without a little help from her teammates. Colleen Fellin and Amy Leichliter assisted on the goal, giving them 3 assists each for the season. Metro improved their record to 9-0-0 overall with the win.

The Lady Buffaloes were limited in scoring chances for most of the game, and Metro goaltender Mandy Allen extended her streak of shutouts to 7 games after blanking the Buffaloes. Of any chances that the Buffaloes had none was better than the one, late in the first half, when the Buffaloes had a one-on-one chance against Allen, only to be pressured from behind by Roadrunner defender Elin Otter. The Buffs missed the goal by shooting high and over the net. Early in the first half, Metro appeared to be struggling, as one fan observed.

“Metro would be beating this team (West Texas) if their passes were better,” said Donna Brough, a Metro Soccer fan. “The other team is good . . . not much better or worse than we are.”

By the second half, Metro appeared to be playing better and Meisha Pyke was able to get the ball past Buffaloes goaltender Jamie Griffis.

“West Texas looked tired in the second half and were dominated.” Said Brough
The entire game was pretty physical, but that didn’t bother Metro head coach Danny Sanchez “When everyone’s completing, things happens. Nothing’s dirty, just good hard play.”

Looking back on the game, Sanchez said that his team could have played better in the first half.

“In the first half we should have scored one or two goals. We missed our chances, but in the second half Meisha (Pyke) got her chance.”

Two days later the Roadrunners played to a tie at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Allen posted ten saves while Metro went on to gain a number 2 national ranking. The ‘Runners next game is Friday at 1 p.m. against the 4-6 New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls.

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Metro's Kristin Nagon battles West Texas A&M's Nicole deJongh for the ball during the second half of the 'runners Sept. 26 game at Auraria Field.

Photo by Joshua Buck

Coach Danny Sanchez, always says that our most important game is our next one; however, Regis is the team we have to beat.

Playing against Regis for us is on the same scale as the Broncos vs. the Raiders. There is such rivalry between us, like it is the battle of Denver.

Along with Fort Lewis, Regis has the worst fans in our conference. They call themselves the Couch Crew.

It is a group of 10 or so fans dressed in yellow t-shirts or kilts and they try to tear you down mentally all through the game.

If you start to listen to their comments it can sometimes get to you and get you out of the game.

All you have to do is to remember that you are the one on the field. The Couch Crew is not and there’s a reason for that.

We focused on the Regis game all last week and we were excited when Friday finally came. This was it, time to prove to them that we are the best team in Denver. With the excitement came the nervousness.

This was not going to be an easy game to play… We knew they were going to come out pumped. They sought revenge from last year when we beat them 2-0 in the RMAC Championship game.

People tell us that we shouldn’t worry about Regis since were ranked third in the nation while they are not ranked at all, but that’s not how it works.
Ranked or not, Regis is our biggest rival and it’s always tough to play against them.

Also, coach will not let us think it’s an easy game.

“Don’t give anything away you wouldn’t want to give away in a game against Regis,” has been one of his favorite lines this season.

However, five minutes into the game the nervousness started to fade away. We began to dominate the game and it felt like we would win it. Our midfielders did a tremendous job and worked hard both offensively and defensively.

In the second half when Naomi Clarke scored our first goal it felt like the game was going in the right direction. When Amy Leichliter scored our second goal the game was over.
We were not only about to win but it was on their home field. I wonder what the Couch Crew had to say about that…

The game against CSU-Pueblo on Sunday was worse. It’s always difficult to recharge your batteries and play well and with the same intensity just two days after a game against Regis.

We went down to Pueblo with this in our minds, but still we didn’t play very well. I was happy Marina MacDonald scored in the first half to give us a 1-0 lead.

Despite a lot of chances we never scored again in the game but we didn’t give up any goals either. We left Pueblo with what we came there for: a win.

Now it’s time to leave this weekend behind us. After all, our most important game is our next one and we have a rough weekend ahead of us.

We play number 30 ranked West Texas A&M at home on Friday and first ranked Nebraska-Omaha away on Sunday.

Right now we are 8-0 this season and we would really like to be 10-0.

Practice hard and taking care of ourselves this coming week is important in order for us to reach to that point.

My teammates and I would love to be the number one ranked team and the best thing is we have the potential to get there too.

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It is now the middle of the season or the time of the season when teams start to divide themselves into the good and bad season columns. The Roadrunners right now are right in the middle of this. All of the teams have played very well this season and for this all of the

Metro teams are in the right place; alive and well.

Women’s Soccer- NEXT!

Women’s soccer this season has truly decided that they were going to prove that last season was not a fluke, by playing better than or just as well as they did last season. After ten games the Roadrunner women scored 27 goals, while only allowing three as opposed to last season when they scored 28 goals, but gave up nine. They also have eight shutouts this season as opposed to three the year before.

They have basically one-upped themselves defensively while making sure that their offense has remained dangerous.This weekend showed the women’s team, the RMAC and the rest of D-II that the Roadrunners are placing in an early bid for as a Championship contender, the problem is there is still one school that stays in the back of their minds; Christian Brothers, the team who stopped the Cinderella team from getting to the ball. This team right now is playing like they want it… NOW and if teams don’t pay attention, Joan McDermott could see herself ordering a championship banner… with the words “Men’s Basketball” above it.

Women’s Volleyball- Remember Last Season?

Last season the Metro Volleyball team took their annual two-game road trip to Fort Hayes State and Nebraska-Kearney, like last season the team was ranked and like last season, the Roadrunners were trying to ride or create a win streak. Last season the Runners took and 18 game win streak into the road trip; the result….a lost to Fort Hayes State after beating Kearney. Possibly this season’s team would have to believe that this was last unfortunate and it wouldn’t happen again; and they were right! This year while re-establishing their RMAC dominance after taking a disappointing loss to Northern Colorado in straight sets, they would accomplish their mission of not losing to Fort Hayes State, because this season they took a two-game win streak to Kearney and were defeated by UNK instead!This season’s Roadrunner team has one thing on their side, the fact that they have extremely resilient players who for the most part have played along side each other for years and have great chemistry. The other thing in their favor is the fact they lost on the road trip in the middle of the season rather than last season when they fell right before the playoffs began. What this does is allow the team who by the time they read this has probably shaken off the loss and is ready to take their frustrations out on New Mexico Highlands. This year’s team in a way has an advantage that no other team has had before it; an experienced, mature and very composed Devon Herron, Jessy Roy and Shawna Gilbert. These three ladies here are the reason why this team will recover and make noise come playoff time.

Men’s Soccer- I hear your replies

I’m going to act like hard for a second and say I heard through the grapevine that my comments against the soccer team wasn’t taken with open arms, but last time I checked this was an editorial, not an article. I know that wasn’t what the team wanted to hear, but if my job as a reporter is to seek truth and report it and the stats reflected my statements true and I reported it; what’s the problem! I still think this year’s team is an RMAC Championship team, but when you can’t score goals, you can win…. but on that note, thanks for proving me right! The Metro men’s soccer team went toe to toe with the Regis Rangers, a team who was falling out the polls quicker than the CU Buffs. They needed to beat Metro to have any hope of remaining in the top 25, but Metro not only denied them the opportunity, they almost beat them! Even though the game would end in a tie, the Runners showed they weren’t able to quit on the season. This attitude would carry into Sunday where they would take it to CSU-Pueblo so bad, that the Thunderwolves didn’t even get the opportunity to put a shot on net! The Roadrunner put two in the net and improved to 4-2 on the season and 3-0 when scoring the first goal. They wouldn’t stop there, because they weren’t finished yet. Their next victim… huh, I… mean… huh… opponent would see three goals scored on them before halftime, but the Cougars from Colorado Christian would mount a comeback, before the Runners would hold on for the victory. Then, on Friday, they would show absolute dominance, by just unloading on Embry College as Antonio Porras (hat trick), Alex Grecu and Zack Cousins combined to score five of the six goals on the day. At one point in time (or the second half) the Roadrunners only had scoring threat Zach Cousins on the field. Metro is now undefeated after scoring the first goal and they are playing like they could go undefeated the rest of the way. Here’s the thing, if Metro can get their attacking midfielders and forwards going, they might be able to win the rest of their RMAC games… why? Because Fort Lewis, Regis, CSU-Pueblo and Mines have all either lost to the Roadrunners, or have barely beaten them. In fact, Mines beat the Roadrunners on a mistake! All I can say is that with the team the Roadrunners have, if they get going, who knows how far they can go. Finally, I know I called out Preston Borrego, Porras, Grecu and Cousins last time I wrote and have now gone crazy on the net, but come on, really, if you think that by scoring goals you’re going to shut me up, I got two words for ya… KEEP READING!

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