DENVER – Katy Coats couldn't have given a better Senior Day present.
The junior forward scored on a header off a header at 57:08 for the only goal in MSU Denver's 1-0 victory Sunday over Fort Lewis, ensuring that the Roadrunners' five seniors would go home smiling.
Even if Coats didn't.
"I've cried three times today," she said shortly after the game. "My best friend (
Annie Rolf) on the team is leaving me, so that's really hard. Me and Annie came in together and she's been great, and we work so well together. She's an amazing player and she pushes me to be my best. It was really good to win for her."
And then Coats began crying for a fourth time.
Ultimately though, Coats and the Roadrunners couldn't be more pleased to improve to 9-5-2 overall and 6-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
With one home game remaining – Wednesday at 1 p.m. against Black Hills State – MSU Denver is now 8-0-1 at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
"It's a lot of emotion," MSU Denver coach
Kat Mertz said of Senior Day. "But I was really proud of the team and proud of their fight to honor the seniors this way. It's hard to do."
Like Friday's win over Western Colorado, MSU Denver controlled the run of play but had to settle for just one goal.
The Roadrunners had advantages of 18-8 in shots, 8-3 in shots on goal, and 6-2 in corner kicks.
"I thought we controlled the game quite well and had good tempo," Mertz said. "Fort Lewis did a really good job of getting numbers behind the ball, which posed a different problem for us to solve. We made some adjustments at halftime and I thought we were a little more threatening, a little more dangerous, in the second half."
The goal, like so many this year for MSU Denver, came on a corner kick.
Paloma Teran served it into the middle of the box, where Rolf was able to head it toward the right post. Coats was stationed there, and headed it over the goalkeeper towards the middle of the goal.
"It was a great ball in," Rolf said. "I probably wasn't in the right place, honestly, but I saw it coming to my head. Then it was heading for the post, but it wasn't really going in, so he got her head on it. I'm happy she scored and got the goal for us, and I'm happy to be a part of it."
Said Coats: "Annie hit the ball towards the back post and I saw it wasn't going to go in. So I thought, 'Just go.' I was so happy just to score and be a part of it with Annie for Senior Day."
Said Mertz: "Some of these games where it's a tactical battle and the other team is getting numbers behind the ball, set pieces are going to be the difference."
Besides Rolf, defenders
Jordan Lewis and
Jessica Mooney, forward
Gabriella Gamboa and goalkeeper
Diyonus Walls were recognized in the pre-game Senior Day ceremony.
"I was really excited," said Gamboa, who took five shots and put two on goal. "I thought I was going to cry, but I didn't. It was very emotional, but it was a happy day."
Said Rolf: "It's crazy, because I can't believe it's my Senior Day. I've gone through many for other people, but to have it for yourself, it's 'My gosh, it's coming to an end.' It was nice to feel so appreciated by my team and the coaches. You go through the whole season as a normal player, and then to have that is amazing. It makes you want to play for them."
Kayla Caballero had three saves while posting her sixth shutout of the season for a stingy Roadrunners defense that has allowed only one goal while going 4-1 over their last five games.
The Roadrunners are locked in to the seventh seed for the RMAC Tournament (they could finish tied for sixth with Westminster, but Westminster won the head-to-head meeting), even though they realistically could finish closer to the second-place team than the eighth-place team with a potential of 21 points.
"We had a little rough patch in the middle of the season, but now we're picking it up," Gamboa said. "We want to end on a good note with a win. That's important going into the RMAC Tournament."
