RAPID CITY, S.D. – Yannick Schad had a goal and two assists and Jerry Gutierrez had two assists Sunday as the MSU Denver men's soccer team rolled to a 4-0 victory at South Dakota Mines.
 
"I think our guys are sensing the urgency of staying alive for the postseason, partly because we know we're good enough to be in the postseason," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Hank Lewis said. "Hopefully we can keep this going."
 
The Roadrunners improved to 6-7-1 overall and 4-5-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while South Dakota Mines dropped to 3-9-1 and 2-7-1. MSU Denver is in eighth place in the RMAC with four games left in the regular season. The top six teams advance to the RMAC Tournament, and the Roadrunners are within striking distance.
 
Lewis was generally pleased with his team's performance in a road loss Friday at first-place Colorado School of Mines, and the Roadrunners continued their solid play Sunday. The Roadrunners are 3-2-1 over their last six games.
 
"Friday didn't give us the result we wanted, but we played some of our best soccer," Lewis said. "When guys are more concerned with team wins than with individual statistics, we do really well."
 
Schad recorded either a point or an assist for the fourth time in the last six games, and he took care of that at 22:41 off an assist from Gutierrez to score his third goal of the season.
 
"It was a wonder goal, left-footed," Lewis said. "It was one of those goal-of-the-year kind of goals."
 
Defender Ignacio Salas scored his first goal of the year at 28:29, on assists from Schad and Gutierrez.
 
The Roadrunners kept it going in the second half, as Bryce Montes scored his second goal of the season – he also scored against South Dakota Mines when the teams played at the Regency Athletic Complex on Oct. 4 – on an assist from Jaime Gutierrez.
 
"I was a great selfless effort by Jaime," Lewis said. "He dribbled and made it difficult for the defense, and then seeing what was around him, he laid it off and Bryce was able to slot it in. Great work by Jaime keeping his head up and attacking the goal. He's very dangerous when he draws attention and makes others make difficult choices."
 
Finally, Brill scored his team-high fourth goal of the season, on assists from both Schad and Gianni Steijlen, in the 89^th minute. Schad has a team-high six assists, and he has assisted on all four goals by Brill, his German countryman.
 
MSU Denver will continue fighting for a postseason spot next weekend, with home games Friday at 3 p.m. against UCCS and Sunday at 1 p.m. against Regis.