DENVER – For the first time in his three seasons at MSU Denver, coach Nick Kirchhof will be sending off players that he recruited on Senior Day.
 
The Roadrunners, after a key 1 p.m. matchup with Fort Lewis on Friday at the Assembly Athletic Complex, will go through Senior Day festivities before Sunday's 2:30 p.m. game against Adams State.
 
Playing their final regular-season home game that day will be midfielders Bryson Chiles, Alec Nguyen and Hernan Ibarra. Though recruited out of junior college by the previous coaching staff, Chiles has played only for Kirchhof at MSU Denver, while Nguyen and Ibarra were part of Kirchhof's first recruiting class.
 
"These three guys have been awesome to work with," Kirchhof said. "They've provided great leadership and a great work rate. They came here when I was selling more of a vision and not an established product. It was a big risk for the three of them to be here, not knowing everything about the program. During COVID, it was tough to describe an environment that didn't exist at the time. I'm happy to have them on our team. They've done a great job establishing a great foundation and they're a great representation of the types of players we want to have.
 
"All three have been instrumental in getting us to where we are now, a top contender in the RMAC."
 
Chiles, an All-South Central Region second team player in 2022, has bounced back and forth between midfielder and defender as a Roadrunner. In 40 career games, he has two goals and 11 assists, and he ranks seventh in program history with an average of 0.28 assists per game and is tied for 25^th in assists.
 
Chiles graduated last December, but elected to take advantage of the COVID-19 waiver and play one more season with MSU Denver.
 
"What I loved about Bryson, right from the get-go, was his work rate," Kirchhof said. "He came in very fit and motivated. Over time we've played Bryson in a variety of spots because of that work rate and his ability, and we felt comfortable with that.
 
"When he decided to come back … that's always helpful as for a coach to see it when a player has the opportunity to leave and they choose to stay once they know what everything is about."
 
Both Nguyen and Ibarra were part of Kirchhof's first recruiting class, as he tried to bring in program players while working with travel restrictions brought about by COVID-19. In each instance, Kirchhof knew each players' junior college coach.
 
Nguyen, who transferred from Division I Campbell after playing at Pima Community College (Ariz.), has career totals of three goals and three assists in 33 games.
 
"His coach at Pima sent me his video, and right away I loved Alec," Kirchhof said. "I loved his work rate, and his ability in the air. When you're looking to build a team, you look to build it around guys like Alec. Since he's been here, he's been fantastic. He's not only led with his play, but he's been an emotional leader. He'll put his body on the line."
 
Ibarra transferred from Division I Robert Morris after playing at Southwestern Oregon Community College. He also has three goals and three assists while playing in 31 career games.
 
"We talked a lot about having a great culture and having great leadership," Kirchhof said. "I explained to him that we would have a younger team and that he would be one of the older players, and Hernan wanted to be a part of that. He loved that challenge."
 
While the atmosphere Sunday will be festive, Friday's will be fraught will importance.
 
A difficult three-game losing streak has dropped the Roadrunners to 8-4-2 overall and 2-3-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Heading into the weekend, MSU Denver is tied for sixth with Colorado Mesa in the RMAC with seven standings points, and Mesa has the tiebreaker advantage based on Sunday's 2-0 win over the Roadrunners.
 
Thus, if the six-team RMAC Tournament were to start this weekend, MSU Denver would be out.
 
But, the tournament doesn't start this weekend. There are two more weekends left.
 
"The good part is, we still have everything in our control going into this weekend," Kirchhof said. "All of our focus is on Fort Lewis. It's two great teams, we played a close game the first time (a 2-1 non-conference win at Durango, Colo., on Sept. 18), and we're happy to have them here.
 
"This weekend is massive to try to make a push and be in that top six. We're expecting a playoff atmosphere come Friday, because the game means everything to both teams. That's fun. That's exciting. That's why we play the game. These are the fun ones that hopefully you create great memories from."