DENVER – Opponents aren't getting any easier for the Metropolitan State University of Denver men's soccer team.
 
After playing last weekend at Fort Lewis and then-No. 17 Colorado Mesa – two of the three teams tied for second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – the Roadrunners are out on the road again this weekend, starting with Friday's 7:30 p.m. matchup with No. 18 Colorado School of Mines.
 
Colorado Mines (7-1 overall) is the RMAC leader at 4-0 and was picked to win the league in the preseason coaches' poll. Mines' only loss was 4-2 against St. Mary's (Texas) on Sept. 2, two days after St. Mary's beat MSU Denver 2-1.
 
"They're a good team, and they have been for several years in our league, along with Fort Lewis and Mesa, and we'd like to include ourselves in that company as well," MSU Denver coach Jeremy Tittle said.
 
The Roadrunners (3-5 overall, 2-2 and sixth in the RMAC), hit a bump last Friday at Fort Lewis, dropping a 5-2 decision. The results looked better Sunday, despite a tough 1-0 loss at Colorado Mesa, which shot up to No. 11 in the national rankings.
 
Still, MSU Denver isn't settling for moral victories.
 
"We played to a pretty good standard on Sunday," Tittle said. "But the standard isn't Friday. So that you were better Sunday isn't sufficient. We have to meet our standards. And we were better for sure on Sunday, but it wasn't hard to be better.
 
"Sunday was definitely much closer to our standards and the way we want to play. We hit a bar and had one saved off the line, had some really good chances early in the game before they scored.
 
"They say American football is a game of inches. I don't know what the analogy is for soccer, but it was that close. We played well and competed, but we weren't satisfied with the results of the weekend."
 
This coming weekend also includes an 11 a.m. Sunday game at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (1-6-1, 0-3-1 and tied for 10^th), but first things first.
 
Colorado Mines is averaging 2.9 goals per game and features John Haist, the RMAC's offensive player of the year in 2017. Haist, who scored two goals in Mines' 3-0 win over MSU Denver in last year's RMAC tournament (MSU Denver won the regular-season meeting 1-0), has seven goals and three assists this season and shares the league lead with 17 points. The All-American scored 22 goals last year, second nationally in NCAA Division II.
 
"We know who he is – he's not a secret, he's a known commodity," Tittle said. "Just like some of our guys are known commodities. But our focus has to be more about us than it is about him or them."
 
The Roadrunners have four players – Gianni Steijlen (Eindhoven, The Netherlands/Summa College), Jacob Coking (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton), Bryan Amouyal (Ashdod, Israel/Mekif Tet) and Kyle VanAlstine (Vail, Ariz./Cienega) -- who have scored two goals each. Meanwhile Jaime Gutierrez (Aurora, Colo./Aurora West College Prep Academy), Rafael Munoz-Vega, Cameron Stopforth (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes) and Jaydon Moreschini (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) all have two assists each.
 
"We still have a lot of season in front of us," Tittle said. "Two wins, two losses in the RMAC – there's still 10 more games to play in the RMAC regular season. We're looking for a good position in the postseason. But we're going to have to work exceptionally hard for the rest of the season and compete."