MSU Denver men’s soccer split two over the weekend improving their overall record 5-3-0 and 2-2-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
The Roadrunners are moving in the right direction through the conference, but the consistency in play is a work in progress as the team tries to balance youth and experience.
The Roadrunners defeated the Colorado State-Pueblo ThunderWolves 4-3 Sept. 23 at the Auraria Fields, a welcome win after getting shut out 1-0 by the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers Sept. 21.
The Roadrunners controlled the pace the first half of the game both defensively, holding the ThunderWolves to only one shot on goal and three shots total, and offensively, netting two goals out of their five shots on goal.
Freshman forward Danny Arrubla scored at 18:46 off a long pass from junior defender Andrew Mejia into the top of the box, giving the Roadrunners an early 1-0 lead.
The Roadrunners made it look easy as senior forward Marc Herschberger scored the team’s second goal at 31:36. Herschberger received a pass from freshman forward Arek Raclawski from the left corner and put the ball in from the center of the box, taking the Roadrunners 2-0 into the half.
The ’Runners shut-out was short-lived as the ThunderWolves struck quickly scoring their first goal at 46:03 off a breakaway by Thunderwolves forward Jonny Sawyer.
“We told them at halftime that this was a team that we did not want to tangle with, and that a 2-0 lead was not going to be a comfortable enough and to keep the foot on the gas pedal and go forward,” head coach Ken Parson said. “We knew as a coaching staff that there was a potential for that to happen.”
Parsons called it right, as the ThunderWolves capitalized on the lack of communication between the Roadrunners midfield and defensive line, and scored again 17 seconds later, when CSU-P forward Matt Marchena tied the game 2-2.
“I think we kind of got caught on our heels a little bit. We weren’t expecting the pressure they were bringing and made mistakes in the center of the field and it definitely cost us,” Meija said. “As a defensive back, we have to cover the center back stepping forward, and when we didn’t do that very well they scored.”
Parsons said that there was breakdown through the midfield and the back line.
“Getting broken down once and getting punished for it was bad enough, but then to not fix the problem and to get victimized on the exact same play less than a minute later is inexcusable,” Parsons said.
The ThunderWolves made a statement in the 50th minute with a goal by Dustin Geist, giving his team the lead 3-2.
The Roadrunners gained their composure and responded to Geists goal two minutes later when Roadrunners junior midfielder Kevin Pocalyko scored off a pass from Raclawski, his second assist in the game.
“Arek tucked the ball into the middle and I ran up and volleyed it in,” Mejia said. “It was my first goal of the season and it felt good to finally get on the sheet and to tie the game.”
Mejia scored the Roadrunners’ winning goal with 9:37 left in the game and with his earlier assist, tied a career high with three points.
“I think it was a good counter-attack. I picked the ball off one of their kids at midfield and saw Danny making a run for post,” Mejia said. “Once I saw the middle coming open, I made a run in and Danny found me.”
Parsons said that even though there is some work to do on balancing the youth and experience of his team and improving communication, the bright spot of the game was that his team battled through breakdown to win the game.
“With a team that is a balance of youth and experience, you are going to encounter some youthful indiscretions throughout the season,” Parsons said. “I think the good thing is the response. You don’t see young teams come back from something like that and that’s a good sign.”

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