Grizzlies fall on the road at No. 7 Metro State
Roadrunners use fast start to top Grizzlies, 8-0
DENVER – Freshman goalkeeper Paul Pizza (Alamosa, Colo.) made 10 saves in the match but the Metro State Roadrunners, ranked seventh in the latest National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America poll, outshot the Grizzlies 34-2 en route to an 8-0 Adams State loss in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action on Friday.
Metro State, who entered the contest third in the RMAC standings, improves to 7-1-2 overall and 4-0-2 in the RMAC with 14 points. The Grizzlies drop to 0-7 and 0-5 in league play.
The 10 saves tie Pizza’s career and season-best, as he accomplished the same feat on Sept. 17 in a match against Colorado State-Pueblo at Murphy Field. Fellow freshman keeper Dillon Lee (Arvada, Colo.), who made two saves in 15 minutes of action against the Roadrunners, also has a 10-save performance this season, which he accomplished on Sept. 19 against Colorado Christian.
The Roadrunners scored their first goal in the sixth minute off the foot of Scott Grode who tallied five points on two goals and an assist in the match. Grode also led Metro State with nine shots in the match, five of which he put on target. Five minutes later the lead increased to 2-0, and the Roadrunners would score twice in the 17th minute of action, with just 26 seconds separating the two strikes. By the end of the first half, Metro State was ahead 6-0.
Junior Peter Freeman (Longmont, Colo.) and freshman Eric Rickard (Colorado Springs, Colo.) were the only two Grizzlies able to get a shot off against a stifling Raodrunner defense, and both came in the first half.
The 34 shots faced by Pizza and Lee is the second most the Grizzlies have faced this season and tied for the third most shots faced in program history. The eight-goal margin of defeat is the highest of the season for Adams State, and ties the largest margin in program history, set in the second game of the inaugural 2009 season when the Grizzlies lost to Fort Lewis, 9-1, on Aug. 30.
On Sunday, Adams State will face the ThunderWolves of CSU-Pueblo for the second this season. ASC hosted CSU-Pueblo at Murphy Field Sept. 17, when the ThunderWolves scored a 1-0 victory. CSU-Pueblo is currently 4-4 this season and 3-1 in league play, and entered a Friday match against Regis in fourth in the RMAC standings with nine points.
The Grizzlies have already played one match in Pueblo this season, when they met up against Montana State-Billings for a neutral site match on Sept. 14, a match in which the Grizzlies fell 4-2.
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