RAPID CITY, S.D. – MSU Denver got what it needed in the first two minutes, and then tacked on two second-half goals Friday for a 3-0 men's soccer victory at South Dakota Mines.
 
Just 1:58 into the contest, Tanner Stevenson sent a corner kick into the box and Cooper Landry, uncontested in front, headed the ball in for what would be the game-winning goal.
 
"We always say that we want to score first, and we want to score early," MSU Denver coach Nick Kirchhof said. "Cooper got on the end of a good corner kick and that was a positive start. And we still kept trying, didn't stop playing. We kept asking questions of their back four, which is very positive to see."
 
Aaron Biggerstaff scored on a penalty kick at 54:22 for his fifth goal of the season and the 15^th of his career. Biggerstaff now has matched his career single-season goal best of five set last year.
 
Then true freshman Zack Williams, playing his first career game, scored at 73:30. A cross into the box deflected off a South Dakota Mines defender and MSU Denver's Matt Vogel took a stab at it but couldn't quite reach it before Williams poked it into the net.
 
"We got Zack in today and he kept busy in and around the box," Kirchhof said. "Some of our young guys have been working hard in training and we've had a couple of guys knocked. The opportunity called for Zack and he was prepared for it, which is all you want. It's the next man up mentality."
 
Both teams put five shots on goal, but Ross Miller was up to the task. Shawn Mantey played the final seven minutes of the combined shutout.
 
"Ross had to make two good saves on shots from distance, and on the others he held them and didn't give chances for rebounds," Kirchhof said. "There were a couple of transition moments where they caught the better of us, but for the most part we controlled the game, dictated play and created lots of chances – even though the scoresheet doesn't indicate that."
 
MSU Denver improved to 2-3-2 by winning the non-conference game against a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponent.
 
The victory snapped a six-game winless streak on the road for MSU Denver.
 
After playing six of their first seven games on the road, including the last five in a row, the Roadrunners return to the Assembly Athletic Complex for a 1 p.m. game Sunday against Fort Lewis. Like Friday's contest, that will also be a non-conference game against a conference opponent.
 
"We hope to have another positive start, want to be difficult to break down and we want to be clinical with our chances," Kirchhof said. "It should be a good game between two even teams. And obviously it will be fantastic to be playing at home again. I can't tell you how much we're looking forward to it."