DENVER – It's been a long journey for Alessandro Gentile, one has carried him from Italy to South Carolina to Denver.
 
And now, finally, the fifth-year senior is getting his chance as the MSU Denver goalkeeper.
 
It has been worth the wait.
 
"When you've been a No. 2 (goalkeeper) that long, it can take you a while to adjust to (being the starter)," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Hank Lewis said. "But he started the season like he'd already been there."
 
As the Roadrunners are set to begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play this weekend, with a 1:30 p.m. game Friday at Colorado Christian and another Sunday at 11 a.m. at Dixie State, Gentile is 2-2 with 21 saves, a 1.50 goals against average and a .778 save percentage while playing every minute it goal.
 
"It's been really good," Gentile said. "Being a senior, I've waited for my moment to come for quite a long time. Being able to help the team, not just in practice, but in games is really good. I'm trying my best to meet the expectation, not just for the team but for myself."
 
Gentile, from Milan, Italy, was looking to combine school and soccer when he first made his way to the United States at Division II South Carolina-Aiken in 2015.
 
"It Italy, sports and school are completely separated," Gentile said. "I was playing at a good level in Italy, and I wanted to go to a good university, and it's quite impossible to do both in Italy. My dad asked what I thought about going to the U.S. because you can play a sport and go to university at the same time, and they will help you do it. It sounded like a great idea."
 
At South Carolina-Aiken, Gentile appeared in two games, starting one.
 
"It was a great place to start, because it wasn't a huge place and so the impact (from a new culture) wasn't too bad," Gentile said. "But after the first year I realized that wasn't really the place for me. So I looked for another university. Once (MSU Denver) contacted me, I looked at the team and the program and the school, and even the city. When I put it all together, I decided, 'Yeah, I want to go there because this might be the place for me.' It was the right choice."
 
But the wait for playing time continued. James Tanner became entrenched as the MSU Denver goalkeeper and then was granted a sixth year of eligibility due to previous injuries in 2018.
 
"It wasn't the easiest thing for me, but I knew it was for the best for the team," Gentile said. "James' sixth year was unexpected, so that changed the plans a little bit. It was hard to stay on the bench, because every player wants to play. It was frustrating, but I knew that in coach's mind it was the best for the team. So I accepted that and I kept working hard to be ready for when my moment was coming."
 
Gentile indeed stayed ready, and he stepped into an improbable heroic role during the 2017 RMAC Tournament quarterfinals against UCCS. Gentile had shown in practice that he was good at stopping penalty kicks so, when it became obvious that the tournament game was headed for a shootout, Gentile was inserted for the final 42 seconds of the second overtime – his only playing time all season. He then stopped the fourth attempt of the shootout, and MSU Denver made the next shot to win the game and advance to the semifinals.
 
Gentile played just once last year, shutting out Colorado Christian, before taking over as the starter this season. And his penalty-kick prowess played out again Sunday against Chaminade (Hawaii), when he turned aside the shot of the Silverswords' Colin Roemer just three minutes into the game. Unfortunately, though, the rebound went back to Roemer, who knocked it in.
 
"I don't know that I'm really good at it, but I've always been quite good at it," Gentile said of stopping PKs. "It disappoints me that in the last game I was able to save the first one, but unfortunately the rebound went straight to his feet and he had the chance to score. For a moment I was really excited, but it went down really quickly."
 
What's the secret to stopping PKs?
 
"I don't know if there's a secret," Gentile said. "I stick with my decision. I never try to look at the shooter's face, because they try to trick the keeper. I look at their run and keep my eyes on the ball and their feet. Once they shoot, I just go and give it all I've got."
 
Gentile gave up three goals in the loss to Chaminade (Hawaii), with two of them impossible-to-stop chances. The Roadrunners fell behind 3-0 before rallying to within 3-2.
 
That setback shouldn't overshadow the nine-save gem Gentile turned in during Friday's 1-0 overtime victory at Regis.
 
"If he doesn't have the game he did against Regis, we might have lost that game," Lewis said.
 
Lewis, a former professional goalkeeper, said Gentile has a solid skill set and has been able make a couple of adjustments since Lewis took over as coach last month.
 
"In training, just doing agility drills, you don't immediately see the athlete that he is," Lewis said. "But he gets in the air really quickly. He's really explosive. And he's definitely a guy whose talents show in games. They show in practice, too, but there's something about him internally that makes him a really great game competitor.
 
"He's able to read shots really well, and react really well. He's also been really coachable to work on refining some things in his game. A lot of his deflections previously would go back to where the shot came from. So it's a matter of slightly adjusting your hips. It's remarkable that he's been able to do that, and that he's been able to do that as a senior. Usually you don't try to tweak a senior's game, because by now he's the guy that he's going to be. But the fact that he's been able to receive the coaching and improve is a hidden talent."
 
Gentile will graduate this spring after doing an internship. Ironically, after all his travels, his internship will be less than a 10-minute walk away from his home in Milan.
 
But first things first.
 
MSU Denver was 2-0 against last year against Colorado Christian and beat Dixie State 4-1. However, Gentile said he and his teammates won't be complacent.
 
"We're going to be really focused," he said. "We've had success against these teams, but every year is different. Every team changes a lot every year.
 
"And we're starting the conference, and we want to come back and show that the last game was just an accident that isn't going to happen every time. These games are important for us to show who we really are, and for us to get back the confidence that we had before."
 
Said Lewis: "Dixie is a good example of a difficult mid-table team. We're going on the road, but (a two-game road trip to) Texas showed us we can be successful on the road. And Colorado Christian might be seen by some as a bottom-table team, but they have a new coach, and they went down to Chaminade 3-0 just like us. They didn't have a game Sunday, so they'll be fresher. And I think they'll look at our result and think they can probably beat us."