DENVER – It was Senior Night before the game, but during the game it was underclassmen who stepped front and center.
 
Junior Tessa Killmon had a goal and an assist, and freshmen Jenelle Arenibas and Maya Woods each scored goals as MSU Denver earned a 3-0 victory over Adams State that honored the careers of forward Kailey Maness, midfielder Luna Garcia and defender Dani Nelson on Friday night at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
 
"We've been working a lot on some pattern play, getting everybody involved," Killmon said. "Being able to get our midfield and our wide wingers connected has been really big. It's been a work in progress, and we're just getting the pieces together and it looks great out there."
 
MSU Denver improved to 6-5-4 overall and 5-3-1 for 16 points and fifth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners, 3-1-1 in their last five games, posted their seventh shutout of the season and their 27^th in 53 games with Kat Mertz as head coach.
 
"We focused a lot of some of our attacking movement this week, and cleaning up some things defensively – I thought we got a little too stretched in our defensive shape," Mertz said. "We worked on some of the little details, and it was fun to see them apply them and really execute some of the things we've been working on during training."
 
Killmon scored at 16:25 on a pass from Brooklynn Gold.
 
"I've been putting in a lot of extra work, taking some extra shots outside of practice, and that's definitely helped with my confidence on the ball, the ability to shoot and to be confident that when I shoot it will go into the back of the net," Killmon said.
 
Killmon has three of her four goals in the last three games while putting six shots on goal.
 
"When you look at some of the best forwards – they want the ball," Mertz said. "They go to the goal. They have that confidence and that mindset of, 'I'm going to shoot the ball.' And Tessa is really taking that on right now. She's been working with (assistant) Makenna (Brassard) individually, doing some finishing in front of the goal, and it's paying off.
 
"She's a threat. She's dangerous. And that's what you want from a forward. You want them to be dangerous."
 
Killmon nearly scored a second goal on a laser of a free kick at 29:15 that still may still have the right post shaking. Eleven minutes later, Arenibas scored her first career goal on a free kick from a nearly identical spot.
 
"Jenelle has a great shot," Killmon said. "Mine hit the post and I'll probably have nightmares about it. But Jenelle whipped it in and it looked great. I'm proud of her and I'm happy to see her successful."
 
Said Arenibas: "On Monday I came out and practiced free kicks, and that was kind of the spot I was at."
 
Arenibas did one thing a little differently than Killmon.
 
"Most keepers go back post," Arenibas said. "So I tried to place it near post and it worked out for me."
 
Said Mertz: "It was a beautiful shot. She's one of our cleanest players when she hits a long ball. She's technically sound with both feet, and she can strike a long ball with accuracy. It was great to see that."
 
Woods tapped in the rebound of another Killmon blast at 82:03, giving her a second career goal in a three-game span.
 
MSU Denver has the rest of the weekend off before traveling for games Thursday at Western Colorado and Oct. 29 at Fort Lewis.