DENVER – Things can sometimes even out.
 
Center back Jackson Vander Ven, the steady anchor of the MSU Denver back line, made a rare second-half mistake Friday, when his attempted header on a shot into the box instead glanced off his noggin and turned into a game-tying goal.
 
A little over 25 minutes later, on a beautiful play set up by Adan Perez and Tanner Stevenson, Vander Ven finished with the game-winning goal with just 1:54 left, allowing the Roadrunners to survive for a 4-3 victory over Fort Lewis at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
 
"I'm glad I could make up for a mistake I had earlier on," Vander Ven said. "I'm glad I was able to come back and win it for the team."
 
The result allowed the Roadrunners (9-4-2 overall, 3-3-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) snap a three-game losing streak and stay alive for one of the six league tournament berths that will be handed out at the conclusion of the regular season next weekend. They are still tied for sixth – and Colorado Mesa has the tiebreaker advantage – with three games left.
 
"Even though we were on a three-game losing streak, I think we had actually played well and played tough and didn't have it fall our way," MSU Denver coach Nick Kirchhof said. "Today we didn't play our best, but we found a way. In the crazy world of soccer, maybe things level out."
 
In a wild start, Fort Lewis scored the first goal as the teams combined for three goals in a span of 2:02. The Skyhawks emerged with a 2-1 lead just 11 minutes into the game.
 
"It was a very strange start to the game, but when things are on the line, crazy things happen," Kirchhof said.
 
The Roadrunners' first goal was on an Adan Perez penalty kick, then Aaron Biggerstaff tied it 2-2 at 29:08 as Bryson Chiles sent a header into the box over the defense and Biggerstaff played a short header off the bounce into the net.
 
MSU Denver took its first lead 1:27 later on a penalty kick by Alec Rodriguez, the Roadrunners' second PK score of the game.
 
"We've been practicing penalties all year long, and we've been preparing to play knockout soccer," Kirchhof said. "It was great to have two new guys step up and bury their chances convincingly."
 
Rodriguez, confident from PK practice this week, took the shot as his first touch after coming on.
 
"Really it just takes one person to say, 'Hey, I want it,'" Rodriguez said. "I wanted to be the one to put my name on it. I just said, 'I got it.'"
 
Still, the goal off Vander Ven allowed Fort Lewis to tie the game 3-3.
 
With time winding down and two crucial standings points potentially slipping away, the Roadrunners put together a special play to emerge with three points and a win rather than one point with a tie.
 
After the ball was knocked out of the goal box, Perez sprinted to get it and was able to turn into open space toward the goal. He lifted a pass toward the right post and Stevenson, at full speed, headed it in front. Then Vander Ven, still in the box because the sequence had started with a corner kick, played the bouncing ball off his hip and then onto his elevated right foot while turning left – he tapped it in with the outside of his foot while falling to the ground.
 
"It was a great delivery across, and a great header back – and that's something we train in practice," Kirchhof said. "To execute it in a pressure moment, I'm ecstatic.
 
"I'm just so excited that somebody was able to find a way to put it in the back of the net."
 
Said Vander Ven: "It was a lot of relief."
 
MSU Denver goes through Senior Day ceremonies on Sunday as three players will be recognized before their 2:30 p.m. game with Adams State.
 
"Every game means everything right now," Kirchhof said. "So Adams is everything. They gave us some trouble when we played them early in the season, and it's always hard to beat a team twice."