DENVER – In soccer, momentum can shift in a matter of seconds.

That happened on multiple occasions in the women's soccer match between Metropolitan State University of Denver and Regis on Thursday afternoon at Regis Match Pitch. The two squads traded big moments, but the pendulum ultimately swung in the direction of the Rangers (8-5-3, 7-4-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), who locked up a 2-1 overtime victory over the Roadrunners (9-6-1, 7-5-0 RMAC).

"Riding that wave up and down is pretty tough," MSU Denver head coach Tracy Chao said Thursday afternoon. "We came out on fire in the first 20 minutes. I thought we didn't respond well when they started to match our tempo and they capitalized. In the second half, we came out and had momentum. We had some chances. Overtime hits and it's anybody's game again."

MSU Denver had four shots in the first 22 minutes of the game, but momentum shifted Regis' way in the 30^th minute as Tori Rinsem drew first blood on a back-heel pass from teammate Gia Lemley to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

Regis maintained its one-goal advantage for most of the second half, until the momentum shifted back in the Roadrunners' direction in the 78^th minute. After a header by freshman defender Jessica Mooney (Broomfield, Colo./Broomfield) was deflected out of bounds, her cousin, junior midfielder Brooklynn Mooney (Broomfield, Colo./Broomfield), lined up for a corner kick. Mooney curled the ball into the box, hoping to find a teammate to punch the ball in the net. As it turned out, no teammate was necessary as Mooney's corner kick found the net itself for her second goal of the season.

A 1-1 score at the end of regulation induced overtime, and it wasn't long before the most important and final momentum shift of the afternoon. Regis' Keegan Storlie poked a through ball to teammate Natasha Wehner, who chipped it over MSU Denver netminder Erica Torres (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield) for the golden goal in the 94^th minute.

The rollercoaster match ended in defeat for the Roadrunners, who traded places with Regis in the RMAC table. MSU Denver is now fifth in the league, while Regis is fourth. The Roadrunners will await additional RMAC results during the final days of the regular season to find their conference tournament destiny, but for MSU Denver, all eyes are on Saturday's match at Black Hills State.

"You have to have a short-term memory in soccer," Chao said. "If you make a mistake, you have to make up for it. If you lose a game, what do you learn from it? For us, this is over and done with. We've got to move on. Now it's about focusing on what we have to do to take care of Black Hills State. It can go one of two ways. We can soak in our sorrows and be disappointed, or we can use it to come out with intensity and execute our game."

MSU Denver will wrap up its regular season schedule in Spearfish, S.D., on Saturday, taking on the Yellow Jackets at 1:30 p.m. MT. The RMAC tournament will begin the following Tuesday.
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