DENVER – MSU Denver has run the proverbial gauntlet in women's soccer over the past three weeks.
Five road games, including matchups against the teams picked to finish first through fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, were among the Roadrunners' first six league games. Two wins, one on the road and one at home, have the Roadrunners at 5-4-2 overall and 2-4 for seventh place in the RMAC.
Starting this weekend, MSU Denver has a chance to begin rebuilding its early-season momentum by returning to the Assembly Athletic Complex, where its it 4-0-1 this season. The Roadrunners play host to New Mexico Highlands (1-6, 1-4) in Friday's 7 p.m. Hispanic Heritage Night game, and to Adams State (1-7-1, 0-4-1) on Sunday in a 1:30 p.m. Youth Day matchup.
Other than an Oct. 24 game at Colorado Mesa, MSU Denver's other five remaining regular season games are at home against teams with a combined record of 11-30-3 overall and 4-19-3 in the RMAC.
"We've proven that we're pretty good at home," MSU Denver coach
Kat Mertz said. "And a goal of ours was to defend our home turf. The crowd comes out – and we've had great support from the athletic department and the other teams, from our fans and parents. It's going to be nice to get back home.
"We've played top teams on the road, and we do again next week against Mesa, and it's great for us. We've got to find a way to win on the road. If you're going to the NCAA Tournament, you've got to win on the road. That said, it's going to be nice to be at home."
Katy Coats and
Elisa Dean each have three goals and one assist for seven points this season to lead MSU Denver. Defensively the Roadrunners hadn't given up more than one goal in a game until yielding two each to UCCS and CSU-Pueblo in road losses last weekend. MSU Denver has lost three straight on the road to teams picked first, second and third in the RMAC preseason poll.
"Our players are hungry to get back on the winning side of things, but I think they're more hungry to play our style of soccer, to play under the lights, in front of our home crowd," Mertz said. "We had a really good training session (Wednesday), and it's nice to have an extra day of training (playing Friday instead of Thursday) to be able to work on some of the things we've really needed to work on."
Friday's Hispanic Heritage Night is in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month. The public address announcer at the game will speak in Spanish, the announcers on the broadcast stream will speak in Spanish, and fans will receive a limited number of "Correcaminos" (Roadrunners in Spanish) T-Shirts.
Similar promotions are lined up for the men's soccer and volleyball teams on Friday.
"We have a lot of players from different backgrounds and ethnicities," Mertz said. "It's nice that all three teams are celebrating it."
For Youth Day on Sunday, all students 18 and under are admitted free.
