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‘Runners, Rangers, Orediggers earn spots
Three sides that have seen a lot of one another in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference earned a spot in the NCAA Division II women’s soccer tournament.
Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado School of Mines and Regis University earned the 3, 4 and 5 spots, respectively, in the South Central region of the tourney. Pairings were announced Monday evening.
The three RMAC teams are each in action in the opening round of the 48-team tournament.
Regis vs. Mines: The Rangers (13-5-2) meet the Orediggers (15-4-1) at 5 p.m. Thursday at Patriot Soccer Field in Dallas.
Dallas Baptist University (18-2-0) earned the top seed in the region and is hosting the opening round matches. Dallas Baptist meets the Regis-Mines winner at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Earlier: The Orediggers nabbed the RMAC tournament title with a 1-0 at Regis on Sunday. This win came after Mines beat Metro State 1-0 in the tournament semifinals on Friday.
Sunday’s win was the second for Mines over Regis in two meetings this season. The Orediggers also beat the Rangers 2-0 on Oct. 5.
Roadrunners Away: Meanwhile, Metro State also travels to Texas for a first-round match. The Roadrunners (13-5-2) meet West Texas A&M (13-6-1) on Friday at Lewis-Chen Family Field in Austin, Texas.
As of late Monday, the NCAA had not set a game time for the ‘Runners and the Buffaloes.
The winner of that prairie-themed battle faces regional No. 2 seed St. Edwards in the second round at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
St. Edwards (18-2-0) defeated Metro State 2-1 in their lone meeting in Texas on Sept. 7. The Hilltoppers are the highest scoring team in Division II women’s soccer with a tally of 73 goals this season. The team averaged 3.65 goals per game while allowing 0.5 goals per game.
Renewal: Metro State and West Texas A&M have not met this season. The Buffaloes, however, have gotten hot at the end of the season. West Texas A&M knocked off Midwestern State and Incarnate Word to claim the Lone Star Conference tournament title and the automatic bid.
While they haven’t met recently, the Roadrunners and Buffaloes have some history.
Metro State defeated West Texas A&M 1-0 on Nov. 9, 2007, in the NCAA Tournament on a 103rd minute goal from Becca Mays. That marathon session came one year after the Roadrunners defeated the Buffaloes 3-2 on a 99th-minute goal from Justine Montoya in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA tournament.
After that win, Metro State would go on to claim its second national title in three years with a 1-0 over Grand Valley State University, this year’s top seeded team.
Finally: The semifinals and national championship matches will be played Nov. 29 and Dec. 1 in Evans, Ga.
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