The DU women’s soccer team’s dreams of winning the Sun Belt Conference postseason tournament slipped away Thursday after the Pioneers were stifled in a 3-1 loss to Florida International University.
Thursday, the Pioneers (16-5-0, 9-2-0 SBC) came out strong, taking an early 1-0 lead before falling to FIU, one of only four losses for the Pioneers in the regular season.
“We were pretty excited to get the first goal,” said head coach Jeff Hooker. “We went to the locker room 1-1 but felt really good about the way that we were playing and what we were going to accomplish in the second half.”
When the Pioneers came out of the locker room in the second half, they gave up two goals in the 62nd and 71st minutes.
“Unfortunately, we gave up three goals in five shots, which is not really a ratio you want,” said Hooker. “We made some mistakes and couldn’t overcome those mistakes, but we had a couple chances and I’m really proud of the way they battled there at the end.”
Despite losing the match, the Pioneers were in control of the ball for most of the game, holding a 24-5 shot advantage and a 13-0 advantage in corners.
“[I am] very proud of the effort,” said Hooker. “The only disappointing part is that the seniors don’t get to play another game, and we would have liked to send them out on a little better note.”
Prior to Thursday’s loss, DU started strong in the tournament on Wednesday, when they prevailed over No. 6 seed South Alabama University 2-0. Earlier in the season, the team beat the Jaguars 7-0 at home, part of their four-game shutout streak.
“I think it’s always difficult going back and playing a team you already handily beat, goal-wise, because there’s always that feeling from the players of ‘Well, you know we’re a lot better than them,’ but we did a good job,” said Hooker.
Junior goalkeeper Lara Campbell recorded her fifth individual shutout of the season and the Pioneers’ 10th team shutout against South Alabama.
Junior forward Katy Van Lieshout and sophomore forward Kristen Hamilton both scored goals for the Pioneers. Van Lieshout scored in the 20th minute and Hamilton in the 59th minute.
“We did a good job, not a great job, in the first half,” said Hooker. “We played against the wind and gave them too many shots. I was impressed with the second half. We had the ball 70 percent of the time, didn’t give them any chances, got the second goal and played a total of 20 or 21 players probably.”
Hamilton finished the season one goal and two points away from the DU single season records.
While the team had to send its seniors out on a sad note, the senior class’s record is one to be noted. In their four years as Pioneers, they won at least 16 games each year and never dropped more than six games in a single season.
