DENVER – Kailey Maness broke it down in a straight-forward, succinct and not-so-serious fashion.
 
"I just kicked it, and the goalie didn't save it, and it went in, and I was glad," she said, laughing.
 
Maness' goal, on a shot from the top of the box at 18:29, was the lone score Wednesday in a 1-0 victory over Colorado Christian to wrap up the regular season for the MSU Denver women's soccer team.
 
It helped the Roadrunners (7-5-6 overall) clinch fifth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a 6-3-3 league record for 21 points.
 
And it came in what was likely Maness' final game at the Assembly Athletic Complex as she and the Roadrunners will go on the road for the first round of the RMAC Tournament at fourth-seeded Colorado Mesa and would need some unlikely upsets to host a tournament game.
 
"I'm happy for her," Mertz said of Maness. "I didn't actually see it. I turned around and everybody was celebrating – those are the best types of goals."
 
It was Maness' second goal of the season and, combined with her six assists, she is one of three to share the team lead at 10 points. Another of those is Tessa Killmon, who got an assist after knocking a short pass ahead to Maness, who was trying to stay onside near the top of the box. Maness did, and then delivered a strike to the lower left corner for her eighth career goal.
 
"TK toe-poked it to me and I was able to stay right with the line," Maness said. "My first touch was good. I wasn't really expecting it to go in."
 
As is typically the case, nothing went in against the MSU Denver defense, which posted its ninth shutout of the season and 29^th in 56 games with Mertz as the head coach.
 
"Defending our home turf has been a big thing for us the last couple of years," said outside back Dani Nelson, another senior. "I think our backline shut it down today. We knew they were going to try to kick it over the top and we were prepared for it."
 
Goalkeeper Kylie Bach was called upon to make two saves in her 16^th career shutout.
 
The Roadrunners would have liked to add on while putting a total of six shots on goal, but in the end settled for their third 1-0 win of the season.
 
"I thought we could've gotten a second goal in the first half," Mertz said. "We could have been a little more patient to hold the ball and make them chase a little bit, but we got a little anxious to get that second goal and kept giving it back to them. We made it a little difficult on ourselves, but I'll take it."