The Denver women’s soccer team faced the University of Colorado Boulder on Saturday as they wrapped up their last nonconference game, concluding their five-game road trip. The Buffaloes ended up with a 2-0 win, but not without a tired, hard-fought battle from DU.
Coming into Saturday’s game, DU was 8-17-1 all-time against CU. Their most recent win against the Buffs was a 3-0 shoutout at home on September 15, 2013.
The Buffs got off to a fast offensive start, with Denver defending strong and the game being neck and neck, keeping the score 0-0 for over a half hour of play.
Denver started to gain momentum with senior midfielder Kaitlyn Glover (Englewood, Colo.) and sophomore midfielder Ella Frost (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) with great shots on goal, but they were saved by CU goalie Dani Hansen, who was working hard putting up a fence against Denver, who outshot the Buffs all game.
CU got on the scoreboard with a goal at 33:41 from Alyssa Duke, who shot with a high arch towards the goal off the deflection.
In the second half, CU found the goalpost once again with Shyra James scoring her key goal on a failed DU clear attempt.
In the last minutes remaining, with CU 2-0 junior defender Jordan Crockett (Park City, Utah) saved a shot attempt just inches away from the goal after redshirt senior goalkeeper Nerea Arrazola (Issaquah, Wash.) narrowly missed the initial save.
DU’s last push was with graduate student Sami Feller midfielder (Grand Junction, Colo) and sophomore midfielder Blythe Sales (Boulder, Colo.) who had a total of three shots on goal on the night.
“We had as good of chances as anybody, and if one goes off the post and in, it’s a totally different score, but that’s soccer. But I was super proud of them not getting down on themselves. When they were talking as a group at halftime, it was nothing but positive, and that’s a sign of a good team,” head coach Jeff Hooker said after the game.
DU finished with the first three corner kick of the match during a four-minute stretch but did not convert.
Sophomore defender Riley Baker (Castle Rock, Colo.) matched a career best with two shots in the season.
The Crimson and Gold will take on North Dakota State in their conference matchup on Friday, Sept. 23rd at 7:00 p.m.
