Overtime became Roadrunners time during the Metro State women’s run to the NCAA Division II soccer championship Saturday. The conditioning level of the altitude-trained players was superior, along with a steely mentality that helped them prevail under pressure.
Coach Danny Sanchez, who guided Metro State to its inaugural national title in 2004, revealed that the second time around was much more difficult.
“The first time through, we ran the table,” he said. “It was a free-flowing, not a lot of bumps- in-the-road experience.
“This time, four of our last seven games went into overtime and three of our five tournament games went into overtime. And not only going into overtime, we won in overtime. We didn’t go to penalty kicks, which is pretty astounding when you get two teams that tightly matched.”
Sanchez says his team didn’t necessarily overachieve, but definitely played to its potential.
“The majority of matches could have gone either way,” he said of the 5-0 tournament run. “But we didn’t crack. We never doubted. It was a pretty incredible run.”
In the semifinals, Metro State senior forward Kira Sharp broke a 1-1 tie in double overtime with the game-winning goal against West Chester of Pennsylvania. It was the second time in the NCAA Tournament that the Roadrunners rallied from behind.
Sharp delivered again in the championship game, hooking a free kick into the left corner of the goal in the fourth minute of overtime for a 1-0 victory over Grand Valley (Mich.) State.
“She’s done well all year and when she got to the Final Four, she got it done when it mattered,” Sanchez said.
Sharp is believed to be the first player at any college level to score two overtime game-winning goals in the Final Four.
The senior from West Jordan, Utah, was occasionally inconsistent last season after transferring from Cochise (Ariz.) College.
“She put a lot of pressure on herself,” Sanchez said. “Once she realized it wasn’t all on her, that she did have great players around her, her performance improved. She was a very good player last year, but this year she became a marquee player.”
Career scoring leader Kylee Hanavan, a senior forward from Northglenn, and senior goalkeeper Rachel Zollner of Lone Tree were marquee players and among the eight-woman senior class that provided leadership.
Four of the seniors who finished off Grand Valley State were reserves last season who entered preseason camp wondering if new recruits would replace them.
“These are players who stuck to the cause, believed what we were doing, and kept working hard,” Sanchez said of Shelley Radosevich, Amira Ebel, Kristen Sonsma and Westminster resident Brooke Kiefer.
“There was no guarantee they’d play a minute,” he said.
Radosevich, Kiefer, Hanavan, Sarah Leonhard of Highlands Ranch and Katie Kilbey of Arvada also played on the 2004 title team.
Footnotes
Adding to CSU-Pueblo’s 84-46 upset of Denver in men’s basketball, CU-Colorado Springs surprised Division I Northern Colorado with a 96-91 win. Patrick Hannaway shot 71.4 percent and produced 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. … The Metro State women’s basketball team beat Western Oregon 96-72 in a near-upset of No. 2 North Dakota before falling 69-66.
