DENVER – All the close losses on the road, all the shutout wins at home, everything that has happened from August until early November, essentially, doesn't matter any more.
 
"I love tournament time," MSU Denver women's soccer coach Kat Mertz said. "Tournament time is special. Anything can happen. Everyone starts 0-0-0. It's a new season."
 
MSU Denver, which finished closer to first place with 21 points (seven wins) than eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season, enters the league tournament as the seventh seed. The Roadrunners will play at second-seeded (but also Division II No. 10) UCCS at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in one of four tournament quarterfinal games.
 
While UCCS and top-seeded Colorado Mesa each had 30 points (nine more than MSU Denver), eighth-seeded Fort Lewis had 11 (10 fewer than the Roadrunners).
 
But, again everyone is 0-0-0.
 
"We're excited for the playoffs," forward Kailey Maness said. "We came out a little flat (in Wednesday's regular-season finale), but I know on Sunday we'll have high intensity and high energy."
 
In an odd scheduling quirk, MSU Denver played five of the top six teams in the RMAC on the road – losing four times by one goal and once (at UCCS) by two.
 
The Roadrunners feasted on the lower half of the RMAC table at home, beating the teams that finished eighth, 10^th, 11^th, 12^th and 13^th by a combined 14-0 as well as defeating fourth-place Regis 2-1.
 
But, after going 9-0-1 at home for the season and 6-0 in league play, the Roadrunners are still waiting for a breakthrough road win.
 
"It's go in and have some fun," Mertz said. "We've got nothing to lose. And if I was any team right now, I would not want to play us. We definitely respect the team we're playing, but we have confidence, and we have belief."
 
MSU Denver, 5-1 over its last six games while outscoring opponents 14-1, has outscored opponents 30-11 for the season and has put 145 shots on goal to 60 by opponents.
 
But goals have been tough to get against the league's best on the road, in spite of the Roadrunners' ability to usually carry play for much of the game.
 
"We're playing well," defender Jordan Lewis said. "Obviously we have a couple more things to take care of, get a couple more goals. But we're all excited going into the tournament and our mindset is going to be to come out strong, play tough and get a victory."