Photo by: Justin Edmonds
The Pioneers women’s soccer team pulled out an overtime victory against rival North Texas, Friday, in their final game of the regular season.
The team traveled to Denton, Texas ,to try and improve its seed placement before moving into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament this week.
“It was a great end to the regular season,” said assistant coach Michael Thomas. “We’re really proud of the team.”
“The first half was a battle and ended with a score of 0-0,” said junior defender Jessi Keller in an e-mail interview. Although the tie was short lived, as freshman forward Janaye Woods beat sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Snyder with a 15-yard blast on a breakaway at 54:44.
The Pioneers proved they weren’t going down without a fight when freshman forward Lauren Cavarra found the loose ball in the box on a rebound.
“It was a big mess in front of the goal,” said Thomas. “Lauren got in and smashed it in.”
Determined to finish the Mean Green off, freshman defender Jessie Rogers headed the ball in on a free kick from senior defender Elise Mascitelli at 82:25. But the Mean Green immediately responded with a slide kick deflection in the box by junior midfielder Veronica Ayala, tying the game up at 83:02 and forcing overtime.
The regular season ended nearly four minutes into overtime when, for the second consecutive game, sophomore forward Mariah Johnston fired a 20-yard rocket past Mean Green freshman goalie Amanda Hall.
“Johnston got slipped in on a breakaway… and beat the keeper to win the game,” said Thomas.
“The game was extremely fast in the first half,” said Keller. “North Texas out shot us 8-3 in the first half, but we made some great adjustments and were able to out play them in the 2nd half.”
The victory over North Texas ensured a No. 3 seed for Denver in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
“Ultimately we needed to win this game to make sure we had a good placing for the conference tournament and also because Denver has never beat North Texas when away,” said Keller. “Winning this game would help us continue our successful momentum into the tournament.”
“We have to go out and execute,” said Thomas. “The conference has proven this year that there is more parody than ever.”
Unfortunately for the Pioneers, it is far from over. The team plays No. 6 seed Florida Atlantic at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday.
“They beat us 1-0 in Florida,” said Thomas of their only match this year.
“I feel that our team is prepared and ready for the conference tournament,” said Keller. “This is what we work all year for and winning this next week will assure us a bid in the NCAA tournament.”
If the Pioneers have any hope of continuing on to the NCAA tournament, they have to win three games this week. This is where the Pioneers’ non-conference schedule benefits them most.
“Every year we try to put together the toughest non-conference schedule we can,” said Thomas.
A tie with UC Santa Barbara, a loss to Pepperdine, and a victory against Stanford prove the Pioneers can hold their own against opponents they’re likely to face if they move on.
“We can play with the top teams in the country,” said Thomas.
