DENVER – They say the early bird gets the worm. In this case, the early goal got the win.
 
In the MSU Denver men's soccer team's special 9 a.m. start time Sunday against Chaminade (Hawaii), the Silverswords were awarded a penalty kick by 9:03 a.m.
 
And though Alessandro Gentile, consistent with his reputation, denied the penalty kick attempt, Colin Roemer knocked in the rebound for the game's first goal.
 
Unfortunately for the Roadrunners, it was 3-0 nearly midway through the second half before their offense awakened from its slumber. Despite two quick goals, MSU Denver was unable to score the equalizer in the final 23 minutes and 30 seconds and suffered a 3-2 defeat at the Regency Athletic Complex.
 
"It's amazing that our goalkeeper made a penalty-kick save," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Hank Lewis said. "And to not jump in on the second ball, that kind of tells the tale of the first half.
 
"A lot of it is controllables. Our guys are super resilient, but maybe it's a matter of when you hit that 'on' button."
 
Trailing 3-0 after Noah Mokulehua's goal in the 63^rd minute, MSU Denver got a goal from Benjamin Brill on a header off a free kick in the 66^th minute, and another goal on a Jaime Gutierrez strike from about 25 yards out less than two minutes later.
 
"I felt like we had a rush going through our team when I scored it, and then we got a second goal right after that," Brill said.
 
Brill headed in a free kick from fellow German Yannick Schad and, yes, it was a bit of an inside job.
 
"I saw that they had very few numbers on the back post," Brill said. "So I told Yani, in German, 'Bring it to the second post,' and that's what he did. It was right there and I was able to knock it in."


After the second goal of the weekend from Gutierrez, who had the overtime game-winner Friday at Regis, the momentum appeared to be clearly on the Roadrunners' side.
 
"It was urgency," Lewis said. "It's always nice to get a goal and give yourself a little faith. We had a pretty strong halftime talk and we expected a little more urgency from the beginning of the second half. When things got desperate, guys started playing a little harder – which is good."
 
But a little earlier response might have been what MSU Denver needed.

"We came out a little flat for the second half as well," Lewis said. "Once you give a team the confidence that they can beat you – they may not be as strong as you, but on a given day, 11 guys who are confident are going to make it hard for you.
 
"We got some good things from some guys off the bench, but guys who are key players have to realize that on a given day, you have to put in more work on the controllables. I think it comes down to, if you are going to honor your home field, you have to make sure you don't get outworked on your home field."
 
Chaminade, playing at 5 a.m. Hawaiian Standard Time, got its second goal after a back-line turnover by the Roadrunners led to a 2-on-1 that was converted by Taka Kosins on an assist from Mokulehua.
 
Eventually the Roadrunners made a late push. They had eight of their nine corner kicks in the second half and carried play for much of the final 27 minutes.
 
"We had times last season where we conceded goals and we were a little bit down and couldn't get up again," Brill said. "But it's great that we were able to get our energy up again."
 
Gentile made four saves for MSU Denver after posting back-to-back shutouts the previous two games.
 
Chaminade went 2-0 on its opening weekend of the season, which also included a 3-0 win Friday at Colorado Christian.
 
MSU Denver dropped to 2-2 heading into its opening weekend of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, with games Friday at Colorado Christian and Sunday at Dixie State.
 
"If we're talking about winning games in Denver, then you've certainly got to win at home," Lewis said. "You've got to have some pride in that. We've got to show a little more organization, and trust what we've set up to do, and also understand that a team that comes this far to play on our field is going to play hard."