Men's soccer season ends in Durango

By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

The Metro men's soccer team suffered its toughest loss of the season on Friday, falling to Colorado School of Mines in a 3-2 shootout.

The shootout came after a 2-2 double overtime tie and eliminated the Roadrunners from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship.

With the loss, the 'Runners were also eliminated from the NCAA Division II tournament, beginning this weekend.

"It's tough walking out of a game knowing you could've won," head coach Ken Parsons said. "A combination of injuries and cards played into the fact that there were games down the stretch where we didn't have our best 11 players on the field."

Metro certainly had a rough run down the stretch. The Roadrunners were 9-2 halfway through the season, only to lose or tie seven of their last 10 games going into the playoffs.

The 'Runners came out strong against the Orediggers, scoring just five minutes into the game.

The first goal for Metro came when senior midfielder Ricky Featherson blasted in sophomore midfielder Phillip Owen's pass from 25 yards out.

Metro extended its lead in the 41st minute when sophomore forward Shaun Elbaum nailed home a cross pass from senior defensive back Chris Bolton's cross pass to give the Roadrunners a 2-0 lead. The goal was the 17th of the season for Elbaum, Metro's leading scorer.

The Orediggers bounced back before the end of the half, scoring a goal with just a minute and a half left in the stanza. Mines senior forward Mike Dixon found the back of the net off sophomore midfielder Nick Rubala's cross pass.

Dixon tied the game shortly after the break, heading in a corner kick by fellow senior forward Rafael Ribeiro in the 51st minute. The second goal by Dixon gave the 'Digger a team-leading 16 goals on the season.

The game remained tied through regulation and the scoring drought continued through two ten-minute overtime periods before going to a sudden death shootout.

After two goals scored by each team, Oredigger junior defensive back Daniel Lockley snuck a shot past senior goalkeeper David McReavy for the 3-2 shootout lead. Metro's final attempt was by junior forward Antonio Porras, but was blocked by Mines' sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Galloway.

The game turned out to be a crucial loss for the 'Runners. Despite losing last Sunday to Fort Lewis College, Mines will continue on to the regional playoffs this Friday at the Skyhawks' home field.

Elbaum was honored with an all-tornament team nomination Sunday.

Coach Parsons has a long off-season ahead. The 'Runners graduate seven seniors this season.

"Now we have to start looking at bringing in some freshman that will help out our program, not just next year but in the future years ahead," Parsons said.