DENVER – The MSU Denver men's soccer redemption tour resumed on Sunday.
 
Two weeks after beating Colorado School of Mines for the first time since 2017, the Roadrunners took down Colorado Mesa for the first time since 2015 with a 2-0 decision at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
 
"These are things that we do talk about, and we do remember," MSU Denver coach Nick Kirchhof said. "We still have guys on the team from when they were very good and they 'shellacked' us.
 
"Hopefully we're showing that, with our brand of soccer, we can play with anybody. You've always got to find that extra motivation."
 
Charlie Matsumoto and Dallas Baer scored goals in a five-minute span of a dominant first-half performance by the Roadrunners, who are sneaky good at 4-5-3 overall and 1-1-2 and tied for fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with five points.
 
"Ever since I got here, Mesa has definitely been a top contender in the RMAC," Baer said. "So if feels really good to get three points against them."
 
While MSU Denver took eight first-half shots, Mesa had just one off-target attempt in the opening 45 minutes.
 
"I thought the first half was fantastic," Kirchhof said. "We scored two great goals off good buildup, good play. We had the majority of the possession. The guys were executing very well.
 
"We were throwing a lot of things at them, and we were rock-solid defensively. I don't think they had a realistic (goal) chance in the first half. It was incredibly positive."
 
In fact, Matsumoto's goal at 24:47 was MSU Denver's first against the Mavericks since a 1-1 draw on Nov. 4, 2016.
 
"We came in very strong," Matsumoto said. "Obviously we didn't have the result we wanted against Westminster (a Thursday tie on the road), and we were a little bummed out about that. But we knew we had to go on to the next game and I think everybody did well in putting in all their effort."
 
Matsumoto kicked a pass out wide to Cooper Landry, who eventually passed it back to Matsumoto in front. The transfer student scored his first collegiate goal.
 
"In all the other games, I really wanted to score, but I couldn't get some shots off," Matsumoto said. "I was just glad I could get on the end of it. I saw Cooper running down the line and I knew he has that speed and can cut it down."
 
Said Kirchhof: "That was a beautiful buildup, and Charlie continued his run unmarked into the box, and for Cooper to find him in all that traffic … it was a fantastic goal, one of the better goals we scored this year."
 
At 29:18, Luke Bone set up Baer in the box in front of the left post. Baer faked right and shot left for his second goal of the season.
 
"Whenever Bone gets on the turn, I always want to start running forward," Baer said. "He makes plays happen."
 
Said Kirchhof: "He got off the shoulder really well, gave himself a good chance with his first touch, then showed his hips to the far post and did that nice tight near-post finish. It was great for him to have that composure and see that vision."
 
Colorado Mesa (3-6-2, 0-3-1) evened things up a bit statistically in the second half, but was unable to cut into the lead.

Nick McNeil had four saves while posting his fifth shutout of the season, including three in a row. He hasn't been scored upon in 274 minutes, 25 seconds.
 
MSU Denver is on the road next week for games Thursday at surprising South Dakota Mines (1-8-2 overall but 1-1-2 RMAC) and first-place Regis (5-2-5, 4-0).
 
"I'm hoping a win like this can really spark us to get that second level of energy, that second wave of belief, that we need with six games left in the season," Kirchhof said.
 
MSU Denver's record includes an 0-4-1 mark against teams that are, or have been, ranked in the top 10 nationally. The Roadrunners are 4-1-2 against all others, including 1-0-1 against unranked RMAC teams.
 
"We've been putting up good fights," Baer said. "I think we've had one of the best teams this year. We've been able to move the ball around and we're all connected. … Everyone is on the same page. It feels really nice to be a good team."