Defense will decide who's going to the Final Four
Donald Smith
Sports Columnist
It's one and done time again for the Roadrunner women's soccer team (and possibly volleyball as well) and once again the ticket to the Final Four comes through Metro. The Roadrunners went to the Final Four two seasons ago after hosting the quarterfinals, and if history could repeat itself once more it will this Sunday when Metro will play Seattle University here at Auraria Field for the chance to play for the national championship.
Volleyball (16-13) Well, the good news for Metro is that they are in the Regional tournament once again; the bad news is that they have to return to Nebraska-Kearney. The Neb-Kearney 'Lopers beat the Roadrunners, and in dramatic fashion, as once again they beat Metro in three straight games. Though the 'Lopers beat the 'Runners, Metro will get another chance to beat Neb-Kearney in the Regional this weekend ... but I doubt it.
No. 2 Women's Soccer (22-1) Defensive backs Meisha Pyke and Jaime Gwinner, midfielder Ymara Guante, and forward Amy Leichliter were part of the All-Tournament team during this weekend's playoffs, but it was Tournament MVP Marina MacDonald who stole the show when she took advantage of a Regis miscue and put the ball and her team past the Rangers . Finally rid of Regis, the countdown to title time is down to a three-game win streak. Three wins, one championship: it's just that simple.
As far as this weekend's Regional Tournament went, my heart went out to West Texas A&M, who fought until they had nothing left. Watching West Texas break down showed how great sports are-because they wanted it so badly and although they lost, everything they had was left on Auraria Field.
Anyway, with Metro in search of its first national title, the 'Runners will have to defeat a team that looks like it shouldn't even be playing right now. Why? Well, for starters, Kylee Hanavan alone has more points (65) than Seattle's top three players combined (64). Next, Seattle scored more than two goals four times this season-only two times less than the number of times Metro has scored under three goals a game. But, before Metro fans start reserving their flight tickets to Wichita Falls, Texas, it's Seattle's defense they need to fear.
The Redhawks have won 12 of their 22 matches by shutout and they only allowed three opponents to score more than one goal. So, in other words, they don't need to score much to beat their opponents.
Though the Redhawks defense is good, Metro is arguably just as nice. Metro has only allowed one squad to score two goals (Cal-State Bakersfield 2-0 loss). Metro only allows an average of seven shots a game while Seattle gives up eleven. All in all, this game looks like a defensive battle in the making, and hopefully, Metro will be able to work around their airtight defense. |
