DENVER – MSU Denver scored its season-high goal total for a second straight game and defeated CSU Pueblo 3-1 Thursday night in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women's soccer game.
 
Brooklyn Gold scored with 16 seconds left in the first half, then Sami Spring at 49:03 and Monica Yoder at 57:37 gave the Roadrunners a commanding 3-0 lead.
 
MSU Denver improved to 3-3-3 overall and 2-1 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play while extending its unbeaten streak in league games at the Assembly Athletic Complex to 13.
 
"This is the best that we've played all year," MSU Denver coach Kat Mertz said. "We continually tell our players that we're getting better each time we're out there. It was awesome to see the goals that we scored. We've been working on it. Our players executed the gameplan. Pueblo is a great team – they just tied (Colorado School of) Mines."
 
The Gold goal was her first of the season. The sophomore knocked in the rebound of a Taryn O'Brien shot from directly in front of the goal.
 
"To get that goal in the last (16) seconds of the first half, it changes the whole game," Mertz said. "It changes the locker-room talk. It changes the spirit of the team. We knew we could get that goal. And it's almost like a relief to be able to get it. Then you can play a little more freely."
 
Spring scored her second goal of the year by heading in a free kick into the box by Maddy Rueter.
 
And Yoder, after taking a pass from Isa Durkin, set up for a shot from just outside the 18-yard box, sailing it from the right side into the upper left corner. It was the true freshman's team-leading third goal of the season – she's scored in two straight and three of her last five.
 
After going scoreless in the first three games of the season, then scoring one goal in each of the next four games, MSU Denver has scored a total of five goals in its last two.
 
"I'll take more goals any time," Mertz said, laughing. "For us, it's staying focused on the process. We set different goals that we are trying to achieve, and each week we evaluate those – what do we need to continue to improve upon? And give the girls a lot of credit, they've been working hard and it's starting to click.
 
"And that's the fun thing when you're building (essentially) a new team and you see them starting to click together. We see it as coaches, and for them to believe it, that's the fun part."
 
MSU Denver will look to extend its home unbeaten streak Sunday at 1 p.m. against UCCS (5-2-2, 3-0), which is receiving votes in the national top 25 poll.
 
"It's a big game, a rivalry game," Mertz said. "They're a tough team to beat and they're playing really well right now. They're going to be well-organized and well-coached. And we have to be at our best."