DENVER – Friday night's MSU Denver women's soccer game was like so many others this season.
 
And then it wasn't.
 
The Roadrunners finally broke through with four goals in a 19-minute span of the second half and picked up a feel-good 4-0 victory over Adams State at the Regency Athletic Complex.
 
Gabriella Gamboa had a goal and two assists, while Brooklynn Mooney, Paloma Teran and Kailey Maness also added goals for the Roadrunners, who improved to 4-6-2 overall and 3-2-2 for a fourth-place tie in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
Adams State dropped to 3-6 and 1-5.
 
"It's just a relief," Gamboa said. "We've been in this slump. We play well, but we just can't score. A four-goal win is amazing. We really needed that. It's a boost of confidence for us."
 
Gamboa, an All-RMAC second team selection last year, had been stuck on two goals this season, but she broke out in a big way, taking a season-high eight shots and matching a season-best with three on goal.
 
Her assists came on a corner kick and off a rebound of one of her long-range blasts. Her goal, which made it 3-0, on a missile from 28 yards away.
 
"Getting two assists and a goal today, that's what she needed," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tracy Chao said. "And she could've had a couple more. Her shots on frame today were the cleanest I've seen. And just taking more shots is something we talked about. It doesn't have to be a perfect shot, just find a small window. She was taking some chances.
 
"When you're a forward and you're not scoring, it's frustrating."
 
Said Gamboa: "I've been really struggling to finish this year. Last year I was shooting constantly, but this year – I don't know why – I haven't been shooting. Tracy told me, 'Just shoot.'
 
"This game, I took my chances. I didn't hesitate. Touch and shot. (On the goal), I didn't even take a touch. I really needed one."
 
Despite the typical massive advantage in shots – Friday's total was 38-2 – and corner kicks (14-0), the Roadrunners couldn't find the back of the next until the 61st minute, when Mooney controlled the rebound of a Gamboa shot, then calmly scored with a shot from about 10 yards out.
 
"That's just how the game goes sometimes," Mooney said. "You can work your tail off and just destroy a team and it still doesn't go your way. You've just got to keep your head in the game and push on."
 
The Roadrunners, who built a 14-2 margin in shots on goal, kept pushing, and Teran matched Gamboa with a team-high third goal when she volleyed in a shot from in front of the left post on Gamboa's corner kick in the 71^st minute.
 
"That was huge for Paloma too," Chao said. "She and (Gamboa), they hammered those. They weren't easy goals. They finished really good goals. Decisive goals."
 
Gamboa's goal came in the 76^th minute, and then freshman Kailey Maness scored in a fashion similar to Gamboa, connecting from 23 yards away just over three minutes later.
 
"It deflected off a defender and I took one touch, and I thought about passing it," Maness said. "But I just decided to shoot it. And it went in."
 
The Roadrunners will be looking to keep their new-found offensive momentum moving on Sunday, when they play host to Fort Lewis (3-4-2, 2-2-2) in a 1 p.m. game at the Regency Athletic Complex in a Cancer Awareness Game.