Ranger Men's Soccer Battles to 1-1 Tie with Crosstown Rival Metro State

Denver, Colo.: When Regis and Metro State men's soccer teams get together on the pitch, you can expect a lot of hard hitting and fast play.  That is exactly what you got today as the two teams forged a 1-1 tie, for the second time in less than one year.

Metro State (5-2-1, 2-0-1 RMAC) got on the board first at Scott Crawford scored his first goal of the season after a battle for the ball in front of the net.

"Metro State has top 20 talent that is a little older and their maturity makes them a dangerous team," stats Regis head coach Tony McCall.  "I was very happy with our maturity, especially from our younger players."

Regis (3-2-2, 1-0-2 RMAC) showed their maturity in the second half when junior Nathan Kafer scored his third goal of the season on a direct kick that fell into the upper right corner of the net to tie the game at one. 

After Kafer's goal at the 65:19 mark, neither team was able to score over the final 25 minutes of regulation or either of the 10 minute overtimes.  

The Rangers and Roadrunners had both a good offensive and defensive game.  Metro State got 31 shots and Regis tallied 21 of which 13 and 12 were on goal respectively.  However, both goal keepers made some fine saves.

Ranger goalkeeper senior Wally Fink had perhaps one of his finest outings as he allowed just one goal and registered 12 saves in 110 minutes of action.

"Wally [Fink] played an outstanding game in goal for us," comments McCall.  "The save he had in the second overtime was one of the biggest plays of the match."

"We had a lot of players step up today including Fink, Kafer and sophomore forward Kyle Emge and senior midfielder Donnie Montoya.  Kyle [Emge] is big and strong with good feet, we want to try and get him to play in areas that really hurt other teams."

Metro State was receiving votes in the most recent NSCAA Division II Poll and had been ranked in the top 25 in three of the first five polls.

McCall says, "We played a very workman-like match today and it is good for our team to play at this level and for our younger kids to realize they can play at this level against quality teams."

Regis will host Mesa State on Sunday, September 27th at 2:30 p.m. on the Regis Match Pitch.

Click here for boxscore.