DENVER – Is it irresistible force meeting immovable object?
 
The Regis women's soccer team, 20^th in Division II with an average of 2.7 goals per game, plays host to MSU Denver, among the stingiest defenses in the country, in an intriguing Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener on Friday at 5 p.m.
 
"They've got some powerful forwards who know how to score," MSU Denver coach Kat Mertz said. "It'll be a good battle. Tactically, they do a really good job of getting their team organized. Hopefully we'll be able to attack with some confidence, but we do need to keep the ball away from their frontrunners. They're really good on the counter. They're pacy and they know how to score goals. They're a good team."
 
Regis, 4-2, was the preseason pick to finish third in the RMAC, while MSU Denver, 1-2-3, was picked to place fifth.
 
The Roadrunners beefed up their non-conference schedule this season and have lost only to then-No. 3 Dallas Baptist and then-No. 9 Point Loma (Calif.). Three other games were shutouts (one win and two ties) and the Roadrunners led their other game 1-0 before giving up the tying goal with three seconds left.
 
So, while the overall record may not move mountains, the view from the trailhead is promising.
 
"We tried to share that message to them this week," Mertz said. "We pulled up our stats and what we look at, different metrics that we keep. We knew at the beginning of the preseason that DBU and Point Loma would probably be the two toughest teams we faced and that everyone else would be fair game. The stats definitely show that way.
 
"That does give us some confidence going into the RMAC. We purposefully challenged ourselves so that we're ready for it, and so that we could play at a higher level. You can't walk into the RMAC after playing against teams that aren't challenging you. We've definitely challenged ourselves."
 
MSU Denver led the RMAC and ranked 26^th in Division II last season with a goals-against average of 0.64 and was 12^th in the country with a shutout percentage of .600.
 
The Roadrunners have undergone significant change as a talented and successful senior class moved on. Only three full-time starters are back, and three current starters have already played more minutes this season than they did all of last – another will eclipse her total minutes from 2022 this weekend.
 
Now that the calendar has flipped to the conference portion of the schedule, the Roadrunners will see if they are ready for the sojourn through this part of the season.
 
"We'll find out," Mertz said. "You try to share the message on why we train so hard in the spring, and it's for October, for conference play, the conference tournament grind. You can't get into the RMAC Tournament if you don't survive and thrive through October. It's a lot with school – and you have athletes working, you have athletes with personal stuff. You have to find a way to manage that, and that's sometimes what you're wading through more than the tactics of the Xs and Os.
 
"It's what I do for a living, so I love the grind. The grind is where we get better. That's where games are won and lost, and if you shy away from things that are hard, then we're
never going to climb that mountain."
 
After the matchup with Regis, the Roadrunners will shift their focus to an 11 a.m. game Sunday at Black Hills State, which is 2-3 this season, but has played just two Division II teams, losing to both.
 
"They're better," Mertz said. "They have a new coach. They have energy. I spread the message that every game is a championship game, and also the message that championships are won on Sundays. You can't be a great team if you can't close out a weekend. Everyone will be able to get up to play under the lights at Regis, but you've got to be able to bounce back for a Sunday game, too."