DENVER, Colo.:  The nationally ranked 24 Buffs of West Texas A&M University travelled to Denver, Colo. this past weekend to take on two schools of the RMAC.  West Texas defeated #11 Mines 4-2 on Friday before heading over to Regis University to take on the Rangers.  The Rangers-Buffs match finished with a 2-2 tie in double overtime.

West Texas jumped early on the Rangers, scoring in the 12^th minute.  This game was far from over however, as the Rangers answered with a goal of their own in the 25^th minute.

Junior Justin Ortinau sent a cross out to sophomore Martin Maybin from 20 yards past midfield.  From the top of the 10 yard box, Maybin jumped and sent a header in to the bottom right of the net.

"We were all over them from the start of the game, so after we were one-nil down we knew we had to get things going again," stated Maybin.  "I got a good ball in, lost my man and put a head on it."

"Everybody has been saying this would be our first big test," he continued.  "We came in prepared, focused on our own things instead of the other teams." thing

With five minutes left in the first half, Maybin connected with senior Alex Tarnoczi for the Rangers second goal of the match.  From the edge of the 18 yard box, the sophomore forward beat three players, served it in to Tarnoczi who put it in the bottom right of the goal.

"There was good team play all around," commented Tarnoczi who finished out the match after a head injury during the match put him momentarily on the sidelines.  "Marty did the brunt of the work and I was able to get a touch on the ball to find the back of the net." 

The Buffs were not going to let the game go with just a one goal advantage though.  They picked up another goal in the 61^st minute of play.

"It is a good result for us, I'm happy with it," continued Tarnoczi.  "Our coaches had a lot to do with how we played, good scouting and team practices and everyone is working really hard out there."

"It was a whole team effort, from coaches, to players, to our training staff."

Freshman Christian Nicolosi spent the full 110 minutes in between the posts.  He recorded three saves against the Buffs.

Head coach Tony McCall commented that "it was a very good game against good opposition."

"They are a very strong nationally ranked program.  Our possession play was good and we played with a lot of character and a lot of pace, especially in the first half coming from being down one-nil to 2-1 after half."

All in all, the Rangers were very pleased with the match.  The general consensus being that the tie was a fair result for the end of a long match between two equally deserving teams.

The Rangers will head out across town on Friday, September 14 to take on Metro State at 3:30 PM.  Regis will conclude next weekend, Sunday, September 16 with a home match against CSU-Pueblo at 3:30 PM.

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