DENVER – In a women's soccer Sunday showdown, MSU Denver was unable to overcome a slow start and saw its five-game winning streak come to an end in a 2-1 loss to Colorado Mesa.
"Give credit to Mesa," MSU Denver coach
Kat Mertz said. "They came out to win a championship. The two top teams in the league (based on conference winning percentage) were playing on a Sunday, and our energy did not match that. TK (
Tessa Killmon) did go down in the first three minutes, but we've got to deal with that – that's adversity.
"Mesa came out on fire. I'm proud of our second-half effort, but in order to win an RMAC championship you've got to play 90 minutes."
Colorado Mesa improved to 7-1-2 overall and 5-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while MSU Denver dropped to 6-2-4 and 5-1. Both teams, each of whom is receiving votes in the national top 25 poll, have 15 standings points to tie for second in the league table behind national No. 1 Colorado School of Mines, 11-0-1 and 5-0-1 for 16 points. No other RMAC team has more than 10 points.
Colorado Mesa scored goals in the eighth minute and again in the 24
th minute – just the fifth and sixth goals allowed by the Roadrunners all season.
MSU Denver had a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal in the first half, but seemed to apply more pressure in the second half, with more possession and better chances.
"I wrote down one thing in my notebook," Mertz said of the halftime adjustments. "And it was, 'Match their energy.' That was really it."
Killmon came back from her early injury to score on a penalty kick at 61:39, but the Roadrunners were unable to get the equalizer.
"You've got to be able to step up to the plate if you're going to be competing for an RMAC championship," Mertz said. "That was an RMAC championship (level) game. Hopefully we'll see them again in the playoffs. It would be awesome to have another chance at them, because I think we grew a lot and learned a little bit about playing a Sunday game."
While MSU Denver plays Friday at New Mexico Highlands (2-8-2, 0-5-1), its Sunday game is at Colorado School of Mines, a team it hasn't beaten since 2013.
"We still have a lot of soccer left," Mertz said. "Sitting 5-1 in the conference, I'll take it. We've got two big games on the road this weekend. We challenged our players to be ready."
