DENVER – Senior Day is always a big day.
 
But Senior Day against the 17^th-ranked team in the country, with home field advantage in the conference tournament and a chance at the NCAA Division II tournament on the line, well, that's even bigger.
 
Yet Metropolitan State University of Denver women's soccer coach Tracy Chao, who will have four seniors playing their final regular-season home game at noon Sunday against the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, likes the way things are shaping up for her team. She expects that any added emotion attached to Senior Day will be channeled effectively into the game itself.
 
"I think it's good," Chao said. "This stretch (of games) is really great for us. I want to play teams that are going to make us better. It's going to be a great match against a great team."
 
Reigna Banks (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield), Arianna Flores (Goodyear, Ariz./Millennium), Emily Romer (Chandler, Ariz./Perry) and Raegan Staib (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield Christian) will be playing their final regular-season game at the Regency Athletic Complex, but the Roadrunners are still in position to play at least one Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament game at home. MSU Denver (9-4-1 overall) is 7-3 in the RMAC, which is good for a third-place tie with 21 points. The top four teams at the end of the regular season host first-round games.
 
And, at seventh in the South Central Region rankings, the Roadrunners are in reasonably good shape to earn one of six regional bids to the national tournament, especially considering games last Monday against national No. 4 Colorado School of Mines (a 2-1 loss), Sunday against UCCS (11-2-1 overall, 9-1 RMAC) and Thursday at Regis (7-4-2, 6-3) will improve MSU Denver's position in many of the metrics used to determine the regional rankings.
 
So Sunday isn't the end.
 
"I'm excited to see where life takes our seniors," Chao said. "And I hope their experience here leads them to be great alumni. But not yet. Not yet. We've still got a long ways to go."
 
Now in her second season as MSU Denver's coach, Chao praised her seniors for helping make the transition a smooth one in the spring of 2017.
 
"I've been fortunate to have this group of four," she said. "When I came in, they immediately were welcoming, and immediately bought in, immediately understood what the culture and the standards were going to be like. They have driven that for the last two seasons. They are an amazing group of people who truly want to be great ambassadors of the program."
 
Banks carries the most on-field accolades. She's already a three-time All-RMAC first-team selection who was the league's freshman of the year in 2015 and could potentially earn All-American honors this season. She
ranks ninth in school history with 33 goals, and she has 13 goals this season – five more than any other player in the RMAC and the 11^th-highest total in NCAA Division II. With seven assists, she has 73 career points and needs six more to break into the school's career top 10. She has scored six game-winning goals in her MSU Denver career.
 
She was the team's leading returning goal-scorer when Chao took over, and quickly impressed her new coach in warmups before the first scrimmage that spring with her team-first mentality.
 
"You never know what to expect with someone who is so impactful on the field, but she has probably the biggest heart in terms of wanting more for everybody, more than you would ever realize from someone who does a lot for herself," Chao said. "She truly doesn't think about anybody but her teammates. (After that first scrimmage) I told her that her mentality, what she wants for herself and her team, would take her to great places.
 
"She's also one whose energy drives the team on and off the field. A big thing about her, too, is that there are very few in the country, and in our league specifically, who can dominate and win the game. But she can. Yet she's so humbled by her teammates and gives them the credit."
 
Flores transferred to MSU Denver in the summer of 2017 after being an all-region and two-time all-conference player at Johnson & Wales of the NAIA. She has appeared in 17 career games for the Roadrunners, and she has one career goal in an MSU Denver uniform – it was the game-winner last season in a 1-0 victory over Westminster.
 
"Ari just wanted an environment that was more competitive," Chao said. "She was one of the best, if not the best, player for Johnson & Wales. She wanted something that was going to challenge her a little more. She knew this was going to be more challenging than what she had experienced, but Ari maximizes her potential, taps out at her ceiling. I couldn't ask for somebody who works harder. She has a great, team-centric mentality. She pushes herself to her limits. There's no more I could ask of her. She's been awesome."
 
Romer, one of the team's captains, is a four-year fixture in the lineup as a defender. She has played in 64
games, starting 58, and has logged more than 5,100 minutes. She has rarely left the field as a senior, helping lead a defensive unit that has allowed just over five shots on goal per game. She has one career goal – a game-winner against Western State in 2016 – and one career assist.
 
"Emily is somebody who is so comfortable in her skin and confident," Chao said. "I love her ability to be a leader and someone who can just drive the environment. She's consistent: I know exactly what I'm going to get with Emily. She's got a great heart, and a great mentality. She is one who wants to make everyone around her better, whether it's in her verbal communication or in leading by example.
 
"She's been tremendous, truly someone who I think everyone looks at and understands why she was voted a captain. She's not afraid to make the environment better. She and I are a lot alike – we're structured and have take-charge mentalities."
 
Staib has played in 52 games in her Roadrunners career, including 27 starts, and has been on the pitch for more than 2,400 minutes. She has scored two career goals – one against UCCS as a sophomore, and the other was the game-winner in a 1-0 victory last year against Dallas Baptist.
 
"Raegan is someone who has more of a quiet demeanor," Chao said. "She's very thoughtful in her actions and what she says. People listen when she speaks. She's very mature and carries herself extremely well. She has been impactful in her four years here, and she's taken different roles every year. I love the conversations we have – she and I could talk for hours and that says a lot about who she is, her maturity. She is a natural leader and brings energy, more than she realizes. I've told her not to discount what she brings to the team, to put herself to the forefront – to get her nose in it, which is sort of our gesture."
 
MSU Denver is trying to keep its nose in the conference and regional picture, despite the challenges that await.
 
"The nice thing is that if we take care of business, we don't have to worry about anybody outside of us," Chao said. "It's all on our ability to take care of us and we don't need any other things to happen."
 
There are two more weeks, maybe three, for the seniors to leave their final impression on the program.
 
"You always tell player how fast their careers are going to fly by," Chao said. "Yet when it actually does come, you always say, 'Oh my goodness, I can't believe we're here.'"