A late goal Sunday afternoon ended the DU women’s soccer team’s Sun Belt Conference winning streak at 21 games as Florida International stunned the Pioneers in Miami.
Despite the loss, Denver (13-3-0, 7-1-0 SBC) still controls its own destiny with three games remaining on its regular season schedule.
The Golden Panthers (9-6-1, 6-1-1 SBC), who defeated North Texas (11-4-1, 6-1 SBC) earlier in the week, completed their perfect week with the 1-0 win against the Pioneers, knocking both of the conference’s unbeaten squads.
“It was a disappointing loss,” said Hooker. “We couldn’t put it all together. If you don’t score, you can’t win, and we did a poor job of finishing the chances that we did create [on Sunday].”
In order to claim their third SBC conference championship in four seasons, the team must win its remaining games.
This week, the Pioneers host Arkansas State on Thursday at CIBER Field, where the team’s seniors will be honored.
On Sunday, the team will travel to take on Arkansas Little-Rock before hitting the road once more for its pivotal season finale match against UNT on Oct. 28.
Two days before losing to FIU, the Pioneers were able to extend their win-streak to 21 games when they knocked Florida Atlantic 3-0 behind fantastic goalie play from junior keepkeepers Lara Campbell and Maria Khan.
With that victory, DU gained its fourth straight shut-out and scored three second-half goals. Campbell and Khan stopped FAU’s lone shot, stretching the Pioneers’ shutout streak to 467 minutes.
The Pioneers’ goals were scored by junior midfielder Kalie Vaughn in the 64th minute, senior midfielder Bria Beardsley in the 68th minute and junior forward Katy Van Lieshout in the 80th minute.
“They gave us a lot of trouble in the first half,” said head coach Jeff Hooker. “Even though we had 12 shots [in the first half], their defense limited the quality of those chances. In the second half I thought that we were a lot more efficient.”
The Pioneers had eight corner kick opportunities and a 21-1 shot advantage over FAU. Despite Friday’s dominating performance, DU’s conference win streak came to an abrupt halt Sunday
