sports
Golden Heartbreaker
Metro falls to Mines 3-2 in overtime, recovers quickly to beat Cougars 4-0
The Roadrunner men's soccer team split a pair of conference games last weekend, losing 3-2 to Colorado School of Mines then beating Colorado Christian University 4-0, bringing their record to 11-4-1 on the season.
It took a double overtime to decide the outcome of the game between Metro and No. 15 Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers prevailed, beating the 'Runners with an unassisted goal from Rafael Ribiero in the 105th minute of play.
"Obviously, coming out on the short end of the Mines game was disappointing," head coach Ken Parsons said, "but we feel that we played well enough in that game to win."
Metro went to Golden in search of a season sweep of Mines. What the Roadrunners found, instead, was one of their most difficult games in 2005 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
"Unfortunately, with (Preston Borrego) serving a red card suspension and two starters coming off (the field) after injuries in the first 20 minutes, really made it difficult against a quality Mines team," Parsons said. "I think we will probably see them again in the playoffs and, with our best 11, hope to play as well as we did at home."
The Orediggers got on the board first with a Mike Dixon goal nearly 13 minutes into the match. The 'Runners answered before the first half ended as Zach Cousins scored his fourth goal of the season off an assist from Mark Cromie at 31:47.
The following 33 minutes were spent with both teams struggling to take the lead.
Ribiero scored for Mines at 64:23 and gave the Orediggers a short-lived lead. Metro's Shaun Elbaum was quick to answer, scoring his 15th goal of the season at 67:39 off a Cousins assist.
The Roadrunners and the Orediggers went into another scoring deadlock for the rest of regulation. One 10-minute overtime period was not enough. Five minutes into the second overtime period, Mines found the difference maker with Ribiero's second goal of the contest.
Despite the tough loss, Metro was quick to rebound, and beat Colorado Christian 4-0.
Junior forward Antonio Porras led the charge scoring three goals on the Cougars. Cousins and Cromie each made assists, and Porras scored on a free kick to secure the hat trick.
In their two-game season sweep of Colorado Christian, the 'Runners won by a combined margin of 15-0.
Metro has four regular season games remaining in 2005, all of which are against RMAC opponents. The 'Runners' final two home games are at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 and Sunday, Oct. 23.
Metro looks to finish the season strong before defending its championship in the RMAC playoffs.
"At this point, we are taking things one game at a time so we do not suffer a setback that could keep us out of the national tournament picture," Parsons said.