DURANGO, Colo. – Fort Lewis scored the game's only goal on a first-half penalty kick and then fought off MSU Denver the rest of the way to claim a 1-0, upset victory Sunday in women's soccer.
 
MSU Denver, which saw streaks of five straight shutout wins and seven games without a loss come to an end, had advantages of 22-8 in shots, 9-5 in shots on goal and 11-3 in corner kicks but wasn't able to break through.
 
"It was just one of those games," MSU Denver coach Kat Mertz said. "Fort Lewis came out strong and played with lots of emotion and was fighting to get into the tournament (it was also Senior Day). We weathered some storms a little bit in the first half, and I thought we did enough to get a tie, but we couldn't quite do it."
 
Fort Lewis was awarded its penalty kick at 24:09 after a linesman called a hand ball off a corner kick that traveled to the front of the goal among a mass of players.
 
"We came out a little flat," Mertz said. "After the goal, we played with more urgency and created enough chances, but unfortunately the ball didn't bounce our way. I think we hit the crossbar and the post, inside and outside, every way you could, and their goalkeeper also made some nice saves."
 
Jaimy Sawaged took seven shots for MSU Denver, with four of those on goal.
 
Kylie Bach (5-1-3) had four saves but suffered her first defeat of the year.
 
The Roadrunners dropped to 10-3-4 overall and 6-2-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
With 21 standings points, the Roadrunners are unofficially locked into the fifth seed for the RMAC Tournament and would travel to either Colorado School of Mines, UCCS or Westminster for a first-round game.
 
MSU Denver wraps up the regular season Wednesday in an 11 a.m. game at Black Hills State (1-12-2, 1-10).