If Abby Rolph is going to fulfill her dream of pursuing a national championship, the Metro State College women’s soccer team is going to have do it the hard way.
After a loss to No. 23 Colorado School of Mines in the Roadrunners’ regular-season finale last Friday, Metro State earned the fifth seed headed into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament, which got under way Wednesday, after press deadline.
The Roadrunners (12-5-1, 8-5-1 in the RMAC) traveled to Grand Junction to face Colorado Mesa University. The winner gets No. 1 seed and host Regis University at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, in the semifinals. The RMAC tournament championship game is 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“To go all the way would be a dream come true,” said Rolph, a 2011 graduate of Golden High School. “I’m hungry for a national championship. I want to go all the way, and I think if we pull together in crunch time and play our best soccer, it will come. We have the talent.”
Rolph is Metro State’s leading scorer as a true freshman with 10 goals and three assists. The Roadrunners started the season strong with nine victories in their first 10 games, including a win over then No. 10 Mines, but the second half of the season has been a grind. Metro State dropped three of its final four regular-season games, including the finale at home to the Orediggers.
Megan Woodworth scored two goals in the final 10 minutes to give Mines the victory.
Rolph has been a bright spot for the Roadrunners this fall. She chose Metro State because she knew she would have the opportunity to play right away.
“My goal from the beginning of the season was to make an impact as a freshman. It was just about if I was going to get the chance,” she said. “I had to prove myself just like everyone else, but it’s been fun. It’s been a good first year.”
The transition to the collegiate level hasn’t been as tough for Rolph because of the success she had playing at the club level. Rolph was part of the Colorado Nike Rush team that advanced to the national title game over the summer before losing in the championship.
“I played all summer at a very high speed, so coming into college I was used to a high speed,” she said. “It was an easy transition when it came to that.”
It also helped to have some familiar faces on the opposite side of the field at times this fall. Former Golden High teammates Marissa Davis — now at Regis — and Mines freshman Nicho Cusack have helped represent the Demons in the RMAC.
Rolph admitted that Metro State struggled down the stretch, but added that anything can happen in the RMAC. The Roadrunners split their season series with Regis and Mines, the top two seeds, and lost and tied with third-seeded Fort Lewis.
“It always makes the season a lot more fun when you have a lot of competition. The early games definitely got us in the swing of things and will help us a lot going into the tournament,” she said. “The RMAC is so tight, when you play the top five to seven teams, it can go either way each time.”