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Metro motors onward
'Runners escape first round scare with overtime win, finish with Sweet shutout at Auraria
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

Photo by Jenn LeBlanc • jkerriga@mscd.edu From left: Defensive back Brooke Kiefer and forward Becca Mays walk off Auraria Field Oct. 28, disappointed after being upset 2-1 by Fort Lewis in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference semifinals. The No. 4-ranked ‘Runners had won the RMAC championship five years in a row and had not lost to an RMAC opponent in 68 games dating back to Oct. 26, 2001, when they lost to Regis.

Heading into the NCAA Division II championships at Auraria Field, the Metro women’s soccer team had a bitter taste left in its mouth from an upset loss to Fort Lewis in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship the previous week. But after beating West Texas A&M 3-2 in overtime on Nov. 3 and St. Edward’s 2-0 on Nov. 5, the Roadrunners moved through the bracket from bitter to sweet to elite.

“At this point it’s all about advancing,” head coach Danny Sanchez said.

And that’s what the ’Runners have done, advancing through the first round of NCAA play into the Sweet 16 and right into the Elite Eight – the same position they found themselves in last season when they traveled to Seattle only to lose to Seattle-Pacific in overtime penalty kicks.

This year the ’Runners will take on University of California-San Diego at Auraria Field, where Metro has lost only once since September 2002.

“(Home-field advantage) helps,” defensive back Nicole Cito said. “It’s so much better because you have all your fans and an atmosphere that you’re used to, and it’s always easier to adjust.”

Metro’s Auraria advantage was visible in this year’s first-round match against West Texas A&M.

The ’Runners took an early lead over the Buffaloes (14-4-1) in the 15th minute, when forward Kira Sharp sent a pass ahead to forward Kylee Hanavan. Hanavan took advantage of the one-on-one situation to score her 21st goal of the season.

Despite a 13-5 shot differential in the first half, the Buffs bounced back in the 34th minute when midfielder Elisabeth Markussen snuck a shot off a deflection past Metro goalkeeper Rachel Zollner. Buffs forward Sarit Shenar then put Texas up 2-1 in the second half with a forward pass that trickled into the goal in the 69th minute, leaving the ’Runners trailing for the second time in as many games.

“We came out hard and ready to play,” Hanavan said. “But unfortunately we had those two mistakes, and they scored on them.”

Over the next 15 minutes, Metro played with a slight air of desperation and urgency as the clock ticked down. But strong legs and an even stronger attack prevailed when forward Katie Kilbey took forward Justine Montoya’s pass in front of the goal and drove it home to tie the game.

“When we’re down, it’s kind of hard to bring ourselves back up, but we did it,” Montoya said. “We got the second goal to tie it up.”

The waning Buffaloes never seemed to stand a chance in overtime. With fresh legs subbed into the lineup, the ’Runners attacked the Buffs’ zone until Montoya blasted home the winning goal with one minute left. The winning overtime goal was the second in four games for the freshman forward.

“Scoring the winning goal is nice, but we all worked as a team in overtime,” Montoya said. “We hit a couple of crossbars, and eventually we just had to get it in.”

Metro had five shots on goal in overtime while blanking the Buffs.

Metro’s Sweet 16 matchup against St. Edward’s (17-3-2) was less dramatic but was executed better.

The ’Runners got on the board in the 28th minute when midfielder Jenna Oney spiked a Hanavan cross into the net for her fourth goal of the season.

“We came out a lot harder than usual,” Oney said. “I just think we had a slump (on Friday), and we had to get over it, and finally we pushed through it.”

Hanavan scored her 22nd goal of the season in the 42nd minute to give the ’Runners a 2-0 lead that they were able to maintain for the rest of the match.

Metro held possession of the ball through most of the game and, despite scoring only two goals, amassed 17 total shots.

St. Edward’s had only two shots on goal and their frustrations were compounded by the ejection of defensive back Megan Podowski, as well as a yellow card for team misconduct. The yellow card appeared to be the result of St. Edward’s head coach Nick Cowell’s disagreement with a referee’s decision and his disregard for the painted coach’s box in front of the bench.

“We tried to keep the game as close as we could, considering (Metro’s) history of doing well on this field,” Cowell said. “They have a great squad and a great coach, so hopefully they’ll go on to win it.”

To do so, the No. 12-ranked Metro women (21-2) must continue their winning ways Nov. 11 at Auraria Field against No. 3-ranked UC-San Diego Tritons (20-1-2), a team that defeated Western Washington in the first round and beat Metro nemesis Seattle-Pacific in the Sweet 16 en route to Denver.

“(Sanchez) works us really hard – a lot harder now – so we’re ready for these games,” midfielder Vanessa Mais said. “Conditioning is always good, but for us conditioning is more mental. We know that if we finish that conditioning, it will, in the end, win us a national championship.”