DENVER – The MSU Denver men's soccer team is on the road again.
 
The Roadrunners will make it five of six games to start the season away from the Assembly Athletic Complex as they travel to California this weekend for games Friday at 5:30 p.m. MDT at Cal State Monterey Bay and Sunday at 3 p.m. MDT at San Francisco State.
 
"They're both good matchups," Kirchhof said. "They both play really nice soccer and can pass it well. We've got to be comfortable not always being the aggressor, but we definitely want to pick and choose our moments when we can. We want to make sure it's tough to break us down defensively and that we're very ruthless on the chances that we take."
 
MSU Denver is 1-2-1 to start the season, with the losses on the road to highly-regarded Fort Hays State (Kan.) and to sixth-ranked Midwestern State (Texas). The Roadrunners nearly picked up a quality road win last week at Lubbock Christian (Texas), but couldn't hold on to a two-goal lead with seven minutes to go and settled for a 3-3 draw.
 
"The biggest focus is to work hard in training and improve on the areas we want to improve and just keep getting better," Kirchhof said. "It's so early in the season, we're still figuring things out.
 
"These will be two good opponents to try some different things against. We'll take a look at some new guys, and we'll also just fine-tune what we're trying to work on."
 
MSU Denver played both Cal State Monterey Bay and San Francisco State in Denver last season, beating the former 4-0 before playing San Francisco State to a 2-2 tie.
 
Cal State Monterey Bay was 8-8-2 overall last year, including 6-5 for fourth place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Otters, picked to finish fourth again this year, are 2-1-1 thus far, including a 1-1 tie against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference power Colorado School of Mines.
 
"It'll be a fun challenge, especially playing in their environment," Kirchhof said. "Last year it was a really hot day for them, and even for us, and we scored some goals that you can't guarantee we'll score this year. They've played every opponent really well, including Colorado School of Mines, so they're a good team."
 
San Francisco State is picked to finish 10^th in the CCAA after going 4-7-6 overall and 2-5-4 for seventh in league play in 2022. The Gators are 1-2 after playing in Hawaii against that state's three Division II programs.
 
"San Francisco State has had a little more turnover in their roster, so not a lot of the same personnel, but I've watched a couple of their games and they're a good opponent, too," Kirchhof said. "I'm looking forward to playing in good environments where we should be feeling fit and strong and very confident in what we do."