Roadrunners fly high in mountains
Women's soccer stays undefeated in conference
by Sam DeWitt
The Metropolitan
Quick, what do you call a soccer team that has a lot of firepower, solid goaltending, strong defense and is undefeated in the conference?
Give up? The correct answer is your Metro State Roadrunners.
Metro entered the weekend with the No. 9 ranking in the country, an undefeated record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and a treacherous road trip that would take them to the Western Slope for two games.
The first, a game against the Mesa State College Mavericks in Grand Junction, ended up being a rough-and-tumble affair that left the Roadrunners bruised, but not beaten. Numerous players were knocked to the ground on both sides, but the Roadrunners were able to come out on top, 3-0.
Neither team was able to gain an edge early on, but in the 24th minute, RMAC leading scorer Kylee Hanavan added to her scoring total for the season with a goal off a pass from freshman back Jamie Gwinner. Just a few minutes later, at the 28-minute mark, senior midfielder Ymara Guante scored an unassisted goal. The Roadrunner attack was able to fire on all cylinders, despite the physical nature of the match.
"It was a very competitive game," said head coach Danny Sanchez. "Every time we play Mesa State, it's like that, so we weren't caught by surprise. But I think both teams played a very hard, fair, physical game."
On the defensive end, despite being outshot 9-8 by the hometown Mavericks, Metro State freshman goalkeeper Tina Churchill was able to hold strong, earning a shutout in her first collegiate start.
"Tina was awesome," said senior back Meisha Pyke. "She saved our butts numerous times this weekend. Just awesome."
The second half was mostly uneventful, despite both teams playing very hard and physical soccer. In the 77th minute, Hanavan scored her second goal of the match and 11th of the year, sealing the victory for the Roadrunners, 3-0.
The second part of the road trip took Metro to rainy, muddy Dirks Field at Fort Lewis College in Durango. The Roadrunners have historically owned the Skyhawks (14-7-2 All-Time), and Sunday was no exception.
The Metro defense got the scoring started early, with senior back Elin Otter scoring her second goal of the year with a header off a corner kick by Hanavan in the seventh minute. With Fort Lewis unable to do anything offensively except turn the ball over, Metro was able to get another corner kick goal from another defender, this time from Pyke in the 13th minute of play. "Kylee (Hanavan) always puts it where we can get it off the corner," said Pyke. "Both my goals have come off her corner kicks this year."
With Hanavan scoring a goal, her 12th of the season, in the 35th minute to round out the first half scoring, the Roadrunners took a commanding 3-0 lead into halftime despite the sloppy conditions.
The second half was just as sloppy on the field, but Metro was able to play like it was an optimum day for soccer by flying to the ball and simply dominating the home team on their field.
The Roadrunners kept their intensity, with junior midfielder Jodi McGann scoring her first goal of the year, an unassisted shot that skipped past the goalkeeper, making it 4-0 Metro. Senior back Bonnie Thompson finished the rout with a goal off an assist by junior forward Amy Leichliter. "This game was good preparation for our team," said coach Sanchez. "Last year we got hardly any rain at all, and there's a good chance we'll get a lot of rain at our games this year. So this was a good test for us."
Metro will try to continue its dominance of RMAC foes when they return to Auraria Field to play against Colorado Christian at 1 p.m. this Friday, and then take on second place CSU-Pueblo at noon on Sunday. |
