SALT LAKE CITY - Dominique Estrada put plenty of power behind her first goal of the season in the 29th minute to help Westminster women's soccer (4-0-1, 1-0 RMAC) defeat MSU Denver (2-1-2, 0-1 RMAC), 1-0, on Thursday night at Dumke Field.
Just as in many of their earlier matches so far this season, Westminster dominated the offensive possession against MSU Denver from start to finish, creating a scoring opportunity off of a 29th-minute corner kick. Westminster pushed numbers into the penalty area for
Alexa Maple's corner which found the feet of
Rebecca Wheeler who set up Estrada for her first-time finish into the top right corner of Kayla Caballero's goal.
The 1-0 halftime lead was enough for Westminster as it allowed just four shots on net from the Roadrunners all night and kept MSU scoreless for the Griffins fourth shutout this season.
Westminster held just a one-shot lead in total shots (12-11) on the night but the Griffins saw more quality in their chances.
Sage Stott narrowly missed doubling the Westminster lead in the 83rd minute but the Griffins avoided any serious trouble in front of
Kelsea Cracroft's net through the final whistle. Cracroft made four saves on the night to earn her second shutout of the season.
Estrada again played all 90 minutes to help sweep the Griffins' backline and
Megumi Takushi and
Sophia DiGeronimo also played big minutes defensively to help keep MSU Denver off of the scoresheet.
Westminster will travel for its first road conference matchups of the season next week as it takes on UCCS on Friday, Oct. 1, at 11 a.m., and CSU Pueblo on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 12 p.m.
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