Box Score DENVER – Down 2-0 with halftime approaching, MSU Denver believed it still had a chance to get back into its season-opening men's soccer game against San Francisco State.
 
The Roadrunners cut the margin in half on Jonas Votaw's penalty-kick goal at 41:14 and then, after halftime, Aaron Biggerstaff tied it at 66:52. The Roadrunners settled for a 2-2 tie Friday night at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
 
"We dug ourselves a hole with a couple of mistakes," Biggerstaff said. "But I'm proud of how we responded. Obviously it took two goals for us to respond, but I was really proud that we were able to get one in the first half and go into half only down one."
 
Biggerstaff's shot came from inside the box and went from right to left past the San Francisco State goalkeeper. The score was set up on a nifty pass by Adan Perez, who blindly tapped the ball behind him to an open Biggerstaff.
 
"Adan has been fantastic," MSU Denver coach Nick Kirchhof said. "We literally can play him anywhere in the front six. He's so calm and creative. Adan's vision was great and it was a perfectly-weighted pass."
 
And Biggerstaff had a feeling a pass was coming his way.
 
"Adan is a fantastic player – he's a magician with the ball," Biggerstaff said. "He's able to create things that others couldn't. He was in a tough situation to shoot so I thought he'd be looking to pass, and I was calling to him, 'I'm behind you, I'm behind you.'
 
"And somehow, with eyes in the back of his head, he was able to find me and get me a really good pass and I was fortunate it went in."
 
Said Kirchhof: "We've been talking about being ready to shoot and being assertive with our decisions, and it was a great strike from Aaron. It was obviously a big goal for us and kept us in the hunt."
 
The goal from Votaw on the PK put some much-needed momentum back on the Roadrunners' side.
 
"That was massive," Kirchhof said. "And Jonas was confident. We've just said, 'Go up and make sure you hit it hard on target, and if the keeper saves it, that's all right, you've done your job.' It was a great strike by Jonas – and that's what we wanted."
 
MSU Denver had advantages of 17-9 in shots and 7-4 in shots on goal. MSU Denver also had all four of the game's corner-kick opportunities.
 
"I was confident in what we were doing, but what San Francisco State did – and credit to them – is that they finished their chances," Kirchhof said. "They punished us when we had breakdowns. We've got to be rock-solid, a little tighter with our stuff.
 
"But we were always confident we could score the next goal. I'm really pleased with the fight and the resolve from the team. We can score goals – I'm not afraid of that – but we've got to tighten things up defensively and it can't be that when a team gets one or two chances against us that they score."
 
MSU Denver returns to action Sunday with a 1 p.m. home game against Cal State Monterey Bay. The Otters opened the season with a 2-1 win Friday night at No. 20 Colorado School of Mines.