GUNNISON, Colo. – Luna Garcia had a goal and an assist and MSU Denver had season-high totals of 26 shots and 12 shots on goal Thursday in a 2-0 women's soccer victory at Western Colorado.
 
"Our movement was really sharp, and we were able to create a number of opportunities," MSU Denver coach Kat Mertz said. "I thought we looked in sync and confident. And we were ready to play."
 
The shutout was the Roadrunners' 10^th of the season and fifth in a row. The single-season shutout total is the most for the program since the 2014 team posted 12 clean sheets, with the streak of five tying a similar run by the 2009 team as the longest since a six-game streak in 2008.
 
"Collectively, our team, just all around, understands our principles and our defensive principles, and has a lot of pride in our team defense," Mertz said. "And another way to defend is to keep the ball, so there's two ways to look at that.
 
"We did a pretty good job from our scouting report of identifying potential threats and breakdowns, and the players did a good job of listening and translating that and applying it to the game. There's just a big sense of making sure we deny shots from distance and stick to the gameplan."
 
The win at least temporarily puts MSU Denver (10-2-4 overall) into third place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. At 6-1-3, the Roadrunners have 21 standings points – UCCS is now fourth with 20 points pending its game against first-place Regis on Thursday night, while Westminster drops to fifth with 19 points prior to its Friday game with New Mexico Highlands.
 
UCCS and Westminster each have three league games left, while MSU Denver has two.
 
Garcia's goal came at 31:52 after Brooklyn Gold stole the ball and fed it in front. It was Garcia's fourth goal of the season and ninth of her career.
 
"Brooklyn came in off the bench, and her first touch was an assist," Mertz said. "Our game changers came in ready to play."
 
Garcia then started the sequence that led to Katy Coats' third of the season and eighth of her career. Garcia passed into the box to Paloma Teran, who then knocked it back out to Coats, whose right-to-left shot went into the lower corner of the net.
 
"Luna is our playmaker," Mertz said. "We saw some pockets that we might be able to exploit and she was able to do that and be creative. That's what you want from your attacking center midfielder."
 
Kylie Bach (5-0-3) had three saves while posting her fifth shutout of the season.
 
Western Colorado goalkeeper Aubree Orosco had multiple terrific stops while making 10 saves.
 
"Their goalkeeper had some great saves," Mertz said.
 
MSU Denver plays Sunday at Fort Lewis and will be shooting for its first 11-win season since going 14-2-5 in 2014. The current five-game winning streak is the program's longest since winning eight consecutively, also in 2014.