DENVER – MSU Denver is seeking to extend its women's soccer season as far as possible starting Sunday.
The Roadrunners, 7-5-6 overall, went 6-3-3 for 21 points and fifth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and will play at fourth-seeded and national No. 18 Colorado Mesa in the first round of the league tournament on Sunday at 3 p.m.
"It's a new season for us," MSU Denver coach
Kat Mertz said. "It starts over. I'm really excited to be going in on a high note."
The Roadrunners are unbeaten over their last four games (2-0-2) and are 4-1-3 in their last eight. The second game in the final group of eight was a 1-1 tie at then-No. 4 Colorado Mesa on Oct. 8. It was the first game all season that Mesa had failed to win.
"We played really well against Mesa," senior forward
Kailey Maness said. "I want us give everything we can for this last run."
Mesa, 13-3-1 overall, finished 8-3-1 in league play. The Mavericks had lost three consecutive games before closing the regular season with a 3-1 win at Westminster on Wednesday.
The winner advances to a Wednesday semifinal against the winner of eighth-seeded Westminster and top-seeded UCCS. The final would be Nov. 11 or 12.
The tournament winner earns an automatic trip to the NCAA Tournament. MSU Denver most likely would need to win the championship in order to earn one of six spots to the NCAA's South Central Regional. The Roadunners entered the week with the ninth-best RPI in the region.
First, though, the Roadrunners will be hoping to spring a first-round upset. In 2021, they lost to second-seeded and national No. 10 UCCS in the first round, playing a scoreless game for 66 minutes and holding advantages in shots and corner kicks.
Last year they knocked off fourth-seeded Westminster, which had received votes in the national poll, 1-0. The Roadrunners then pushed top-seeded and national No. 9 Colorado School of Mines to overtime before losing 3-2 in the semifinals.
"The goal is to get one step further every year," Mertz said. "We want to be playing for an RMAC championship every year. It's going to take a lot of work. We've got to have belief, a little bit of fight, a little bit of grittiness, and some confidence in what we're doing."
Defending is always a source of confidence for the Roadrunners, who have nine shutouts this season, 21 the past two years and 29 in 56 games since Mertz became head coach.
"Our defense works so hard to get it up to us, for us to put some goals away is always a good thing," Maness said. "There's no getting past them and (goalkeeper) Kylie (Bach) is so solid back there."
The past two seasons, MSU Denver has embraced post-season play and played some of its best soccer.
"It's go time," Mertz said. "Survive and advance. That's the fun part about conference tournaments. They're hard. It's grueling. We've played three games in six days, and now we turn around and play again on Sunday."
