DENVER – It may not be at the Regency Athletic Complex, but Friday's 3 p.m. MSU Denver men's soccer game at the Regis Match Pitch will be the team's first in its home city this season.
 
And the Roadrunners want to treat it like a home game.
 
"We have 11 'Denver' games," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Hank Lewis said. "You should take pride in not losing at home, so what I've said to our guys is to treat the game like a home game. We're driving 15 minutes away. I'm hoping that adjustment, that psychological adjustment of thinking of it as a home game, our first game in Denver, will help us."
 
Lewis' first team will play its actual first home game on its home field on Sunday, with the unusual start time of 9 a.m. against Chaminade (Hawaii).
 
MSU Denver is off to a 1-1 start after managing to split a difficult two-game trip to Texas in which it lost 3-1 at St. Mary's and won 2-0 at St. Edward's. St. Mary's is picked to finish fourth in the Lone Star Conference and St. Edward's was picked to finish third, so both games were good regional tests and coming home with a win could pay dividends later in the season.
 
"We've gotten better each half," Lewis said. "St. Mary's got after us the first half, and the second half we were a little better. St. Edward's was running at us, and then we tweaked a few things and we weren't seeing the same runs."
 
"Some guys who didn't get a look on Friday, got a little better look and showed well on Sunday. So we've got a core group, even though our team in a way is a core group because it's smaller than most."
 
The matchup with Regis is unusual in that it is considered a non-conference game. The official Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference meeting between the teams is Oct. 27 at the Regency Athletic Complex.
 
MSU Denver and Regis had a similar schedule last year, when Regis got a game-winning goal from Ollie Haines with 1:11 left to win the non-conference meeting at the RAC 2-1 before the Roadrunners bounced back for a 5-0 win at the Regis Match Pitch on Oct. 19 behind a hat trick by Jaime Gutierrez.
 
Regis is 0-1-1 thus far after settling for 2-2 tie at St. Martin's (Wash.) and then losing 3-1 at Concordia-Portland (Ore.). St. Martin's is picked to finish third in the seven-team Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and Concordia is picked sixth in the GNAC.
 
Regis, meanwhile, was picked to finish fourth in the RMAC. MSU Denver was picked eighth.
"Regis always starts the season flying," Lewis said. "They always look like a team that's further into the season, and that's a challenge for us because they know each other and we're still building as a team."
 
Chaminade, meanwhile, will play against MSU Denver for the first time. The Silverswords, who have nine starters returning from a 6-5-2 team, are playing their season opener Friday at Colorado Christian. They are picked to finish eighth in the 12-team Pacific West Conference.
 
If you think the 9 a.m. start time will be unusual for the Roadrunners, then consider that it will be at 5 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time (Hawaii doesn't recognize Daylight Savings Time).
 
"It's worked out for us that we have trained at 9 a.m. on Sunday the last two weeks (before the Sunday game at St. Edward's)," Lewis said. "Part of that was to avoid the heat. But our Sundays we have treated like game scenarios. So I hope the idea of guys being ready for a Sunday game at 9 a.m. isn't mysterious for them."
 
Lewis likes the momentum his team has built.
 
He cited the adjustments made by defender Benjamin Brill that allowed midfielder Danny Bautsista to move forward and score both goals against St. Edward's, leading to Bautista's recognition as RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.
 
"Ben is a player who responds well once it's clear what you want him to do," Lewis said.
 
The play of freshman Jerry Gutierrez showed maturity beyond his status as a freshman, while freshman forward Sam Funnell and sophomore defender Brayden Forrester returned from injury with fresh legs and were able to make an immediate impact – Funnell scored the Roadrunners' goal against St. Mary's.
 
"Sam is consistently trouble because of the way he runs and the way he passes the ball," Lewis said. "And Brayden is really good at winning and distributing the ball."
 
Defenders Todd Gibbs and Ignacio Salas withstood the pressure put on them by the Texas teams relatively well.
 
"They spent a lot of time being run at," Lewis said. "Some of that is us being more organized in defensive transition. Some of that is teams recognizing where we have a separation between our back line and our midfield line. It might have looked like our back line was shaky, but they were getting shelled in some cases."
 
Lewis also cited the work of assistant coach Tyler Amerman.
 
"Tyler Amerman's input has been invaluable," he said. "Ultimately I'm going to decide, but he's somebody I trust, and I will listen when I ask what he thinks we should do in a certain situation."
 
Lewis was impressed with his team's fitness level. Despite have a roster of only 22 players, the Roadrunners showed well against Texas teams with larger rosters.
 
"If we can have the performance we did at St. Ed's, at home and not in the Texas heat, I feel good about our chances," Lewis said. "I think our guys know they're good, but I think they also know it's about tightening the controllables.
 
"Having that win was a three-fold win. It's nice to win. But if you lose two games in Texas, you start to doubt if the things we did in the preseason actually worked. And the third point is momentum, going into a Denver stretch with some confidence."