Rapid City, S.D.--- The South Dakota School of Mines men's soccer team will have its first full home weekend of the season this week as the Hardrockers play host to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes Colorado Christian and MSU Denver at Sioux Park in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Friday's game will kick off at 6 pm against Colorado Christian University (0-7). The Cougars have yet to win a game on the year or score a goal as they have been shutout in all seven games they have played this season.
In their last outing, the Cougars fell to Fort Lewis 4-0 in their second of four-game RMAC road swing to end the month.
Despite the setback Zach Roberts recorded 13 saves as the CCU goalkeeper. It is the most for an RMAC goalkeeper this season. Furthermore, his performance ties him for the fifth-most saves made in a game this season among all NCAA Division II schools.
On Sunday the Hardrockers will face off against MSU Denver (3-5) in an 11 a.m. (MST) matchup. The Roadrunners have lost three of their last five RMAC games. They are led by Freshman Midfielder Gianni Steijlen who has 2 goals and 1 assist on the year.
The Roadrunners (2-2 and sixth in the RMAC), hit a bump last Friday at Fort Lewis, dropping a 5-2 decision. The results looked better Sunday, despite a 1-0 loss at Colorado Mesa, a team that shot up to No. 11 in the national rankings.
The Roadrunners have four players –
Gianni Steijlen (Eindhoven, The Netherlands/Summa College),
Jacob Coking (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton),
Bryan Amouyal (Ashdod, Israel/Mekif Tet) and
Kyle VanAlstine (Vail, Ariz./Cienega) -- who have scored two goals each. Meanwhile
Jaime Gutierrez (Aurora, Colo./Aurora West College Prep Academy), Rafael Munoz-Vega,
Cameron Stopforth (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes) and
Jaydon Moreschini (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) all have two assists each.
Last weekend, the Hardrockers traveled down to Colorado for two games. In the first game they took the field against Adams State, the game was dominated by the Hardrockers from the beginning, having hit the post twice in the first 15 minutes.
With 20 minutes left in the game, Adams State got on the scoreboard after an own goal by the Hardrockers. With two minutes left in the game Hardrocker forward
Justin Barkow scored the equalizer to send the game to extra time.
After extra time the game ended 1-1. On Sunday the Hardrockers were confident they would get their first RMAC win of the season against Colorado State University Pueblo. But two goals from Pueblo proved to be too much for the Hardrockers as they left Pueblo with a 2-1 loss.
The one goal for the Hardrockers came from Barkow which put the Longmont, Colorado native as the all-time leading goal scorer for the Hardrocker soccer program. In just three years, Barkow has tallied 16 goals in a Hardrocker jersey.
