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The Pioneer women’s soccer team knew it was not going to be an easy road and well it hasn’t been. DU tied at UC Santa Barbara 0-0 this past Friday and finished its road trip with a 3-0 loss to Pepperdine on Sunday afternoon.

DU started out the season with a 2-0 loss to No. 14 Colorado at home and followed it up with a 3-1 victory over Air Force.

Senior Jenna Billingsley, sophomore Brooke Lamphere and sophomore Lizzy Carlson each knotted unassisted goals for Denver in the win over the Falcons.

DU then dominated Northern Colorado 5-1 with Billingsley scoring two goals and senior Sarah Martinez, sophomore Kelli Breidenbach and freshman Lauren Cavarra each putting one in the net.

The Pioneers were picked to repeat as Sun Belt Conference champions in the coach’s pre-season poll. Billingsley was also chosen as the pre-season SBC player of the year after making the All-Sun Belt First Team last season when she scored 16 goals.

Senior Taryn Hemmings was named the 2006 SBC player of the year after she scored 15 goals and recorded 42 points.

DU finished last season 19-3-1 and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. In the tournament, Denver defeated Kentucky in the first round and then were defeated by Colorado.

The Pioneers return 19 letter winners from last year with seven of them being starters.

Denver will be at the Colorado Soccer Classic in Boulder this weekend when they play Drake on Friday at 2 p.m. and No. 1 Stanford at 11 a.m. on Sunday.