Box Score SAN FRANCISCO — Playing on Treasure Island, the Dominican University of California women's soccer team spent all game on Saturday hunting for the proverbial chest full of gold – in this case a goal.

Unfortunately for the Lady Penguins, no matter how close they came to “X marks the spot,” they couldn't find the back of the net. With 1:35 left in the game, they watched Academy of Art's Marg Thorolfsdottir's score off goal a free kick, leaving Dominican with a frustrating 1-0 non-conference loss to its Pacific West Conference rival on a neutral field, which happened to be the Urban Knights' practice field.

The Lady Penguins (2-2) outshot AAU 17-7 and probably had eight times as many golden scoring opportunities.

“It wasn't for a lack of effort. We had a ton of chances,” said Dominican Director of Soccer Jon Delano. “The longer you let a team like Academy of Art stick in the game, the harder it's going to be for you. I don't think we were as sharp as we needed to be and the opportunities that we had we all fantastic opportunities.”

Led by senior captain Shayna Elkins, 11 different Dominican players recorded shots. The best scoring chance may have been the first one 11 minutes into the game when freshman Megan Hanson and Michelle Bella set up teammate Tori Selesia outside the box, but Selesia was stopped by goalkeeper Jessica Bibby when Selesia  elected to try to dribble the ball around the AAU goalie rather than shoot immediately. Bibby smothered the ball.

The Lady Penguins were unlucky on numerous other occasions. Freshman Kaila Wakida came off the bench and kicked a scoring chance over the net, Kendra Corsberg struck a ball over, an Elkins' shot rebounded off Bibby but no teammate could get to it soon enough, Kaitlynn Baptista had a good look and shot it wide, defender Katie Brownn had a free kick from 35 yards look spot on but Bibby tipped it over the crossbar, Julianna Bratsberg was ready to launch but Bibby covered the ball before she could and Lexi Humphry had a header go wide of the AAU goal.

Dominican, which had six corner kicks and 13 shots in the second half, was accurate with its passes but just couldn't hit the eventual target.

“How many ones-on-ones did we have with the goalkeeper?” asked Delano. “We just have to be sharper. There's no other way to talk about it. When you have that many opportunities and don't put them away … We're not talking half-chances here. We're talking glorified chances.”

The main reason the Lady Penguins acquired so many chances is because their back line of Brown, Hanson, Kathryn Ripple and Emily Whitaker was solid and kept  AAU from  getting the ball deep and threatening Dominican goalkeeper Megan Herring. In addition, midfielders Elkins and Corsberg controlled the middle third on the field.

Yet, the Urban Knights (1-2) managed to score the game's only goal – and their first of the season – on a free kick by Jasmine Sharpe that wound up in the middle of the box on the feet of Thorolfsdottir who didn't miss.

Dominican will begin PacWest play on Sunday, Sunday, Sept.18, when it hosts Hawai'i Pacific University in San Rafael. Game time is 2:00 p.m. at Forest Meadows Field.