LUBBOCK, Texas – MSU Denver coach Nick Kirchhof was smiling Friday night.
 
His team scored three first-half goals but it still got interesting, even after host Lubbock Christian (Texas) played a man short following a red card, but the Roadrunners held on for their first win of the year, a nice 3-2 regional triumph.
 
"The fans get their money's worth when they come see us play," Kirchhof said, laughing.
 
Sam Funnell scored twice on free kicks and Noah Hannula got his first career goal for the Roadrunners.
 
"Sam had two incredible strikes," Kirchhof said. "He's been working on them in training, and he was ready for both moments."
 
Both of Funnell's scores – at 3:03 and 27:15 – came from about 25 yards away.
 
Funnell had two assists in the Roadrunners' season-opening 3-2 loss to then-No. 24 St. Mary's (Texas), with one coming on a corner kick.
 
"Sam's got a great delivery, both on set pieces and from the run of play," Kirchhof said. "He's really worked hard, and from the spring season he's really starting to understand the system well. He keeps his head down and keeps working, and I'm loving what he's produced so far."

MSU Denver gave up a penalty kick goal at 31:40, but Bryson Chiles set up Hannula who scored at 39:42.
 
"Our response was great," Kirchhof said. "It was a great ball by Bryson and a fantastic header by Noah."
 
Though Lubbock Christian played a man down for the final 44:21, it managed a goal at 70:00 to make it interesting. Too interesting.
 
"Give credit to them, because they started passing very well once they were down to 10, and they had a great little combination that caught us out of shape and it was a good finish," Kirchhof said. "But when they went down to 10, we stopped doing the things that had made us successful, working hard and passing the ball.
 
"We had to defend, and to our guys' credit they bent but they didn't totally break."
 
The Roadrunners wrap up their road trip to Lubbock with a neutral-site matchup with Texas-Permian Basin on Sunday at noon MDT.