SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Despite a late first-half goal from freshman Sam Funnell in his collegiate debut, MSU Denver couldn't overcome an early two-goal deficit and fell to St. Mary's (Texas) 3-1 on Friday in the men's soccer season opener for both teams.
 
It was also the debut for new Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Hank Lewis, who was hired to lead the program on Aug. 1.
 
"Considering the Texas heat, and constantly being run at by waves of the considerately larger St. Mary's bench, we withstood their pressing and counter attacks quite well, and when we held the ball, we clearly showed we were the better soccer team," Lewis said. "Obviously, the score doesn't show it, but one of their goals was penalty-generated from a ball-to-hand.

"We are still a little too reactive in how we transition when we win it, but when we connect passes, and create unbalancing runs, it's easy to see how teams are unsettled and uncomfortable with the way we play. We did that many times today, but we could not generate the final product from that hard work." 

Trailing 2-0, a streaking Funnell ran on to a beautiful lead pass from Jaime Gutierrez, then beat goalkeeper Jacob Sayle to get the Roadrunners back within a goal in the 38^th minute.
 
Gutierrez, the reigning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, led the Roadrunners with eight goals and five assists last season.
 
"It was great to see Jaime Guiterrez put in the effort he did up top, and connect well with the return to the field of Sam Funnell," Lewis said. "They responded very well to that second goal, by playing through their midfield as if nothing ever happened on the other end of the field."

But St. Mary's, picked to finish fourth in its first season in the Lone Star Conference, regained the two-goal lead on the second goal of the game by Luis Sanchez, making it 3-1 in the 76^th minute.
 
Alessandro Gentile had five saves for MSU Denver, but the Roadrunners had just one shot on goal (the goal by Funnell). St. Mary's had a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks.

"Sandy Gentile probably could not have stopped the two true goals were scored on him, but made several great off the line saves and was masterful in his distribution in many stretches of the game," Lewis said. "Our back line handled well much of their attack, with as many as six different runners trying to expose them. We didn't have the number of sub options St. Mary's had, but they handled the pressure well.

"We were also solid in owning our box against the several corners they had, and I think that is beginning to show the signs that there's a renewed vigor for winning the ball and not giving  opponents easy chances.

"The work out of Danny Bautista, Jerry Guiterrez, and Jaime Guiterrez was notable, and their movements shows signs of how we're going be very dangerous in the future." 
 
Sanchez scored the game's first goal in the 16^th minute, and Ollie Wright's penalty-kick goal in the 36^th minute gave the Rattlers their initial two-goal advantage.
 
The Roadrunners continue their Texas two-step Sunday with a noon MDT game at St. Edward's (Texas).