Home > Sport

Streak ends as Texas holds 'em
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

Photo by Jessica Oleksy • oleksy@mscd.edu Women’s soccer head coach Danny Sanchez observes his team from the sideline during a preseason alumni game at Auraria Field on Aug. 13. The Roadrunners beat Central Oklahoma 1-0 in Edmond, Okla. Sept. 29 to give Sanchez his 100th win as Metro’s head coach. Sanchez had little time to celebrate the accolades as the ‘Runners were upset 2-1 two days later by Texas A&M Commerce in Commerce, Texas. The loss ended the Metro women’s NCAA record streak of 59 games without a loss.

After going 59 consecutive games unbeaten, a streak dating back to before their 2004 NCAA championship, the Metro women’s soccer team lost an overtime thriller to Texas A&M Commerce, 2-1, in Commerce, Texas, Oct. 1.

The Roadrunners narrowly avoided a weekend sweep when Kira Sharp snuck a Kylee Hanavan-assist past the Central Oklahoma goalie in the 86th minute of a game two days prior to the upset. The 1-0 victory Sept. 30 was head coach Danny Sanchez’s 100th for Metro.

Sanchez couldn’t be reached for comment but has said in the past that team accomplishments are more important than individual accolades.
Both weekend matches were similar defensive battles. The game against the A&M Lions was similar to the ’Runners’ game against Oklahoma. Metro took a 1-0 lead midway through the second half when Hanavan scored on a penalty kick.

Metro held on to the 1-0 lead right up to the 89th minute, when Lions defender Tamara Geels received a pass from teammate Melissa DoRemus, hit the crossbar with her errant shot, tracked down her own rebound and buried the tying goal.

Reeling from the shocking last-minute goal, the ’Runners coughed up the ball in their own box to A&M’s Bailey Geels nine minutes into overtime. Geels turned and put the shot just out of reach of Metro goalkeeper Rachel Zollner. It was the first loss for the second-year goalie.

“There’s never a good time for a loss but it’s good to get one every now and then,” Metro athletic director Joan McDermott said. “It puts them in check and it relieves some of the pressure off of them.”

Although the Roadrunners were eliminated in a shootout with Seattle-Pacific in the Elite Eight of the NCAA championship last season, the elimination qualified as a tie in the record books.

“In order to be really good at the end of the season I think they needed to be tested,” McDermott said. “It’s too bad, but at the same time it’s really good for the team to finally be challenged.”

The 59 consecutive games without a loss for Metro dated back to Sept. 3, 2004, when the ’Runners lost 2-0 to the California State-Bakersfield Roadrunners.

Their winning run tied the all-time NCAA Division II record previously set by Franklin Pierce. The Ravens’ win streak spanned from Sept. 10, 1996, to Dec. 4, 1998.

The Roadrunners return to Auraria Field Oct. 6 to take on nationally-ranked Montana State-Billings. Metro has won 56-straight games at home and continues to build on the all-time NCAA Division II record in that category.