Denver, Colo. - In its Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opener, San Jose State (2-7-1, 0-1-0 WAC) was shutout on Friday night by conference newcomers, the University of Denver Pioneers, at CIBER Field, 4-0.
"Give all the credit to Denver," Spartans head coach Jeff Leightman said. "They are very organized, athletic, and very good. But I thought we played well tonight."
Denver (9-1-2, 1-0-0 WAC), ranked in the top-30 in five polls, got goals from four different players.
Despite the lopsided score, Leightman saw the light at the end of the tunnel for San Jose State. "Right now, Denver is a bit better but certainly not 4-0 better than us," he said. "We played better tonight against a better opponent than we have in the last three or four weeks."
Junior Cheryl Kute led the Spartans with a personal season-high three shots, one of which was on goal.
"We moved the ball well, and we had the ball quite a bit," Leightman said. "We also had varied impact. We hit the bar twice and had lots of chances, so I do not think it was a 4-0 game."
Freshmen Zoe Makrigiannis and Emily Pryor combined to make six saves, one more than Denver goalkeeping tandem Lara Campbell and Maria Khan.
Said Leightman, "If we keep playing at the level we played at tonight, at some point, some of these balls that are close to going in will go in. As soon as those balls do go in, we are going to skyrocket as a team. You cannot go a whole season where every break does not go your way, so we have to keep on the path we are headed."
The Spartans travel to Las Cruces, N.M. to face the New Mexico State Aggies on Sunday, September 30, at 12:00 p.m.