DENVER – MSU Denver's young but talented women's soccer team returns home for a pair of key conference matches this weekend.
The Roadrunners (2-3-3 overall, 1-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) face CSU Pueblo (2-1-4, 0-0-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday before squaring off with perennial power UCCS (4-2-2, 2-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Both games are at the Assembly Athletic Complex, where the Roadrunners are seeking to extend a 12-game unbeaten streak in RMAC play dating to the start of the 2021 season.
The Thursday game is a White Out Night, with all fans encouraged to wear white.
"It's great to come back and be at home," MSU Denver coach
Kat Mertz said. "It's Homecoming Weekend, and there's a lot of excitement on campus, and hopefully we can use the confidence we gained from the past weekend and roll it into things moving forward.
"Our field is one of the nicest in the country, and our players have a lot of pride in defending their home turf."
The CSU Pueblo contest is the MSU Denver Homecoming Game, and features a post-game drone show, while kicking off a weekend of festivities that includes the Roadrunners Athletics Hall of Fame banquet on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Tivoli Turnhalle. Former Division II National Player of the Year Ymara Guante and her 2004 national championship teammate and captain – and later Roadrunners assistant coach and head coach – Adrianne Almaraz Pietz are among the inductees.
Mertz is determined to get the Roadrunners back to playing at a championship level, and there's no better way to get there than by playing difficult non-conference and RMAC schedules.
"Every team in the RMAC has the potential to win the RMAC," Mertz said. "That's what makes conference play exciting. There are talented players and good coaches throughout the league, and every game a championship matchup."
CSU Pueblo was picked to finish just eighth in the RMAC, but the ThunderWolves haven't allowed more than one goal in any game this season, and are coming off a 1-1 tie against nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines, the preseason favorite.
UCCS, picked second in the preseason, has beaten two nationally-ranked opponents – then No. 9 Point Loma (Calif.) and then No. 15 Mines.
"We're fighting for points," Mertz said. "And the message has been to be consistent for 90 minutes. I don't think we've put a complete game together yet."
Two of the Roadrunners' losses have come to non-conference teams ranked in the national top 10, the other was 2-1 at Regis last Friday. MSU Denver bounced back for a 2-0 win Sunday at Black Hills State.
"We had some really great moments last weekend," Mertz said. "We were confident and brave and kept possession under pressure and created a lot of opportunities. The Black Hills game was the first time this year we put 50 percent of our shots on frame, and that's something we've been talking about – not just shooting to shoot, but shooting to get it on frame.
"There were a lot of interesting results around the league on Sunday, and I'm proud that we were able to go into an environment that created some adversity and really step it up and get a win."
