SALT LAKE CITY – Jaimy Sawaged scored in the 11^th minute and Kylie Bach and the rest of the MSU Denver defense made it stand up as the fifth-seeded Roadrunners earned a 1-0 victory at fourth-seeded Westminster on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
"Our players are pretty focused and they were pretty excited for the opportunity, and they're excited to have another chance to come out and show who we are as a team," MSU Denver coach Kat Mertz said. "We thought we could get Westminster in certain areas and we executed our gameplan, everyone off the bench came in and contributed, Kylie (Bach) made some big-time saves and collectively, defensively, we made plays when we needed them. That's what you need against a top opponent like Westminster."
 
MSU Denver (12-3-4) advances to a Wednesday semifinal at top-seeded and Division II No. 9 Colorado School of Mines (14-1-3), a 5-0 winner Sunday over CSU Pueblo. The Roadrunners and Orediggers played to a 3-3 tie in the regular-season meeting.
 
"We're really excited about playing them," Mertz said. "We played well against them, and they weren't happy with their performance against us. It will be two teams out there with a refined focus, and it's the semifinals. They don't give up a lot of goals, and they have a lot of threats up top. It'll be a good match."
 
On Sunday, Sawaged scored her ninth goal of the season at 10:55. She ran onto a pass from Luna Garcia in the box and to the right of the post, with the goalkeeper charging out for the ball. Sawaged chipped it past her to the middle of the box and then regrouped and finished with her left foot into a wide open net.
 
"We thought we could attack the gap between their outside backs and center backs and we absolutely did that," Mertz said. "It was very reminiscent of the goal we scored against them the first time (Sawaged's goal in a 1-1 tie in September was, indeed, nearly identical). We talk a lot about believing and not giving up, and that's what that was."
 
Sawaged, a senior in the stretch run of her career, is going out with a flurry, and now has six goals in her last nine games and has scored eight since conference play began. The game-winner was her fifth of the season, tied for the ninth most in a single season in program history.
 
"You love to see that from a senior, that carefree mentality where there's nothing to lose," Mertz said. "She has that positive energy, that positive vibe. She's the first one to make a joke and smile – and that's what you want from a senior who is part of a senior-led group."
 
The defense stole the show the rest of the way as Bach (7-1-3) made three saves while posting her seventh shutout – it was the 12^th clean sheet of the season for the Roadrunners.
 
Westminster (10-6-2), receiving votes in the national top 25 poll, kept the pressure on, with advantages of 11-7 in shots and 7-3 in corner kicks. Both teams had three shots on goal.
 
"Westminster has some really deadly threats and is really strong on set pieces," Mertz said. "We had to make some adjustments, and I thought collectively everyone did a fantastic job."
 
The victory was MSU Denver's first RMAC Tournament road win since 2016.