GOLDEN, Colo. – Nothing has come easy for the MSU Denver women's soccer team this season.
 
That's what made Friday's first-round RMAC Tournament win over Dixie State feel so good.
 
After scoring the first goal just over five minutes into the game, MSU Denver surrendered a late first-half goal and hung on through regulation and then both overtime periods.
 
Then, during the penalty-kick shootout, freshman Maddy Rueter converted on the final round and sophomore goalkeeper Emily Kim – brought on for the shootout -- denied All-RMAC forward Whitley Johns to clinch the victory for the Roadrunners.
 
"She's a really good shot-stopper on penalty kicks," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tracy Chao said of Kim. "Some goalkeepers can really read it well. We've been working on it in training and she does well. She came in with a nothing-to-lose mentality, and her training, her mindset for coming in for big moments, has been really great.
 
"We got to the five-minute mark and I looked at (goalkeeper coach) Gen (Henderson) and we knew EK was the one. We told her to get ready and she was."
 
During the regular season, Rueter – a defender who leads the team's field players in minutes  – had taken two shots, with neither on goal. Kim had appeared in three games for a total of 36 minutes, and had not been required to make a save.
 
Talk about a good story.
 
Regarding the selection of Reuter to shoot fifth, Chao said, "We've been working on PKs this week, and we ironed out who our options were out to eight, nine and 10. Maddy has been good at them. If you watch her play, it doesn't have to be the strongest person, it's who is able to pinpoint the ball on the field. She's been so consistent on the back line and always plays good balls. And she's an unemotional player, just calm and collected as a freshman. To put that in was big-time."
 
With the 1-1 tie (4-3 PKs), sixth-seeded MSU Denver (7-8-4) advances to a noon Sunday semifinal against second-seeded, and 16th-ranked, Colorado School of Mines (16-2-1). Mines defeated Fort Lewis 3-0 earlier Friday.
 
Gabriella Gamboa got the Roadrunners on board at the 5:05 mark, volleying a cross from Nayeli Baez past the Dixie State goalkeeper for her sixth goal of the year. It was the third assist for Baez.
 
"We had a really good buildup on the right side, had a nice little combination of passes and Nay just had a big-time game," Chao said. "She played it in nicely and give credit to Yeaya, that's four goals in our last eight games. She put herself in a good position and got behind the defense, and then she hammered that ball home. The goalkeeper had no chance."
 
After Dixie State (10-3-5 and receiving votes in the national poll) tied the game at 31:03 on a goal by Alexa Ashton, the Roadrunners dug in against a team it had played to a 0-0 tie in the regular season.
 
Through regulation, Dixie State had a 16-3 advantage in shots, and a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal. But the Roadrunners began carrying play through the overtime sessions, with all three of the shots on goal.
 
For the game, all four of the Roadrunners' shots on goal were by Gamboa, the All-RMAC first team selection.
 
In the shootout, MSU Denver shot first and Jordan Lewis delivered. Then Nayeli Baez did the same. And then Gamboa. But Dixie State answered each time.
 
Dixie State got the momentum when the Trailblazers' Mashaun Estridge guessed right and denied Jessica Mooney. But then Dixie State's next shot went off the crossbar.
 
On the fifth and final round (provided the shootout was no longer tied), Rueter stepped up and calmly delivered a shot past Estridge to the lower left corner of the goal. Then Kim denied Johns with a clutch save, and the Roadrunners started making plans for Sunday.
 
"One of the things for us was the energy we were bringing together," Chao said. "We told them, this is what you have worked for since last season ended in November. This is what all the spring and summer training was for, being able to be fit enough for this kind of game. And we were able to keep bringing in players who brought energy and kept running at them. Our depth was big."
 
So, too, Chao said, was the support shown at the game by the MSU Denver men's soccer team, which was in attendance along with many members of the department's administration and other coaching staffs. The Roadrunners' volleyball team, preparing for a home match Friday night, watched on the video board at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"A big shout out to everyone in the department," Chao said. "Even the ones who weren't at the game, we could feel that energy."