Dixie State saw its seven-match winning streak snapped in a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Dominican University Saturday night at Dixie High School.

After both teams battled to a scoreless draw through the first 45 minutes, the Penguins (7-5-4/6-3-2 PacWest) managed to break through at the 50:59 mark of the match as Mariah Meza touched home the game's lone goal on a bounding ball that slipped past DSU keeper Angelica Ciucci (Stockholm, Sweden/Thorildsplans Gymnasium).

Things got physical later in the second half, including a hard collision between Ciucci and Dominican midfielder Michelle Li, which resulted in a double red card ejection for both players.

That fired up the Trailblazers (9-6-0/7-3-0 PacWest) as the offense rattled off five shot attempts over the final 10 minutes of play, including three shots on frame in the last 1:26 by junior forward Darian McCloy (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS). However the PacWest's leading goal scorer could not solve Dominican netminder Alyssa Ramos, who stopped all three McCloy attempts in the closing moments to deny DSU the equalizer before time expired.

"These are the hardest nights to be a coach," DSU Head Coach Kacey Bingham said. "We played a very good game and created opportunity after opportunity, but [Dominican's] keeper played an unbelievable game. These next three games are very crucial for us to stay in the [PacWest championship] mix."

Dixie State lost despite outshooting Dominican 21-8, including a 13-6 edge on goal. McCloy finished with six shots, four on goal. Meanwhile, Ramos finished with 13 saves to lead the Penguins defensively.

Dixie State returns to action this Monday afternoon with a PacWest match vs. Notre Dame de Namur at Legend Solar Stadium beginning at 3:30 p.m.