DENVER – The MSU Denver women's soccer team will head to Golden as they secured their spot in the RMAC Tournament Semifinals after defeating the #6-seed Westminster Griffins 2-1 at home.

"I'm proud of the players," said head coach Kat Mertz after the win, "It was fun to watch our players come out and like we've said all along, no team is going to roll over, winning is hard."

The Roadrunners struck early in the first half after midfielder Nicole Thompson got on the end of a perfectly-timed, well-placed ball from forward Tessa Killmon. The play started from the back, as defender Maddy Rueter played a long ball from the center line to Killmon, who controlled the ball and turned inside on her defender, giving her enough time to slide the ball past the second defender right to Thompson's feet. Thompson struck the ball on her first touch, sending it to the top-left corner of the net, past the goalkeeper's hands in the 15th minute of the match.

"We just wanted to see if we could create something in the final third, and it paid off. Nicole got a great goal, good finish, good job by TK to slip her in. I thought that was really well done," said Mertz.

The Roadrunners second goal would come off of a Westminster own goal in the 53rd minute after midfielder Tessa Bretschneider put the ball in for a cross, and the deflection off of a Griffin defender's header would drop into the net.

When asked about the second goal and the luck it would provide later on in the match, Mertz responded, "I'll take that luck, sometimes you need that."

The Griffins would not go down without a fight, though, as they scored from the penalty spot in the 67th minute of the match.

"Disappointing that we couldn't put a third away right away, I thought we had an opportunity to go ahead and seal the game off, but we didn't close it out and Westminster fought to come back and make it interesting," said Mertz.

As usual, the Roadrunners' defensive prowess was on display for the remainder of the match, and they were able to hold off a Westminster comeback, solidifying a spot in the RMAC Tournament Semifinals with a 2-1 win.

The team awaits their semifinal opponent and will play the winner of match three between Fort Lewis and Colorado Mesa.

"I'm excited for the Thursday game," said Mertz, "Our desire to win has to be greater than our fear of losing. At the end of the day, this is what we've worked really hard for."

The Roadrunners's semifinal match will be on Thursday, November 14 at 3:30 p.m. in Golden, Colorado at Colorado School of Mines.

Tickets can be purchased here – fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets ahead of time to ensure a smooth entrance into the stadium.