DENVER – Here's one way to prepare to play the best men's soccer teams in the league .
Play them in non-conference games before the conference season even starts.
That's what the MSU Denver men's soccer team will be doing this week, as it plays hosts to Regis at 6 p.m. on Thursday and to Colorado School of Mines on Sunday at noon. Both games are at the Assembly Athletic Complex. Thursday is Faculty & Staff Appreciation Night -- all MSU Denver faculty and staff are admitted free with their campus I.D. and will be recognized at halftime.
Mines (4-2) is one of the co-favorites to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship from the pre-season league coaches' poll, while Regis (4-1) was picked to finish fifth, though just barely out of third.
"We want to get a little faster, sharper and cleaner with how we're playing," MSU Denver coach
Nick Kirchhof said. "We want to make sure we're ready to compete whether it's off set pieces, or the run of play, defensively. It's just important that we're ready to come out and work hard."
Both teams were have been nationally-ranked this season, though they didn't crack the top 25 this week: Colorado School of Mines was No. 4 in the Sept. 7 poll, while Regis was No. 22 on Sept. 14 after beating the Orediggers .
"They're both doing well and are off to good starts," Kirchhof said. "They are historically good teams. And they're completely different. Regis has some great attacking players. They're a lot older, they have a decent amount of graduate students. In the spring when we played them, they passed the ball really well and they made us really work from side to side.
"Mines is also a good passing team, but they are also big and physical. They make sure they defend well and are organized. They are both very different, but they both have different styles for us to match up against and see where we're at."
MSU Denver has already played another top RMAC team in a non-conference game this season, losing 3-0 last week at CSU-Pueblo, picked to finish third in the league.
"That was a good meter for us," Kirchhof said. "We learned from it and got a little better."
The Roadrunners picked up a 1-0 win at Newman (Kan.) on Sunday to improve to 3-3 overall against what has been a challenging non-conference schedule.
Sam Funnell leads the team with seven points (two goals, three assists), while
Aidan Bates has three goals and
Bryson Chiles has three assists. Goalkeeper
Ross Miller has played every minute while posing a goals-against average of 1.81 and a .738 save percentage.
"We're still growing, learning about each other, seeing areas where we need to improve," Kirchhof said. "I think we're getting a little better each week and that's the goal. I'm excited to play two top teams in region and then we get the opportunity to play them again in conference."
