Nine games into the season, the Pioneer women’s soccer team stands at an impressive 7-1-1 mark, and ranked No. 14 in the nation by the NSCAA Coaches Poll. With their only loss having come against Nebraska this past Sunday, it has been hard to otherwise find a problem with the team’s recent play.
“The one consistent thing about this team is that it doesn’t matter if we are playing at home or on the road,” said head coach Jeff Hooker. “The expectation is that we go out, leave everything out there and try to find a way to win the game.”
Denver’s approach and tactics have been working, having already defeated talented teams like Alabama, UC Irvine and Colorado. The defense has recorded a shutout in five games. Freshman goalie Cassidy Rey made seven saves in last Sunday’s game against Colorado to give the Pioneer’ their fifth shutout of the season. Junior Anna Willis was responsible for one of the three goals Denver scored against Colorado, as senior Kristen Hamilton scored the remaining two points for the Pioneers. Through seven games, the Pioneers had only given up three goals.
“To continue that average means we’re playing good soccer,” Hooker said. “For us, it’s not about a record or a ranking. It’s about taking these next four games and going out to play against the best teams in the country, play well and get good results.”
Bigger opponents, like BYU and UC Santa Barbara, might pose more of a threat to the Pioneers, but Hamilton is confident in her team’s abilities.
“Off the field, our classes have become really close; we are all best friends. That really helps the dynamic on the field. We still have to come out and try our hardest every time though. We need to be prepared for every game and to not expect that we’re going to win from here on out,” Hamilton stated.
Hamilton has been a big part of the Pioneer’s success this year, as she now holds the all-time scoring record for Denver with 44 career goals.
Hamilton also broke the Denver’s all-time scoring record with 117 points in her career, and surpasses Annette Wagner’s previous mark of 116 points. Hamilton was also recognized for her play as a forward on Top Drawer Soccer’s Team of the Week.
“It means a lot,” Hamilton said. “It’s pretty surreal. There were great players before me who had set those records, so to follow in their footsteps was a huge accomplishment. It really just goes back to the team that I’ve been playing with the whole time. It’s never just me on the field scoring the goals; it’s my teammates giving me the assists and the whole team working hard and having them behind you.”
Recruited by Hooker from Columbine High School, Hamilton has proved to be a major asset to the Pioneers for the past three years.
Hamilton, along with three other senior Pioneer players, Nicholette DiGiacomo, Jessy Battelli and Shannen Johnson, have been teammates since their youth and have also been familiar with Hooker as a coach for as long as they can remember.
“Jeff was my coach when I was ten years, old so having that personal relationship with him and knowing him as a coach really helped solidify my decision to play soccer here. Other than that, the campus is great and it’s so close to my home. Academics played a huge part in my choice as well,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton has also won numerous All-American and All-Conference awards during her time in Denver. She received the 2012 WAC Player of the Year honors, and was a 2012 NSCAA Third Team All-American. So far this season, Hamilton has had six goals, scoring in seven out of nine games.
“I think if you put pressure on yourself, you won’t score. I’m just trying to go out and play naturally, trying to work with my teammates and play as well as I can on the given day,” said Hamilton.
Having scored two of Denver’s three goals last weekend against Colorado and the lone goal against Nebraska, Hamilton is in the position to lead the Pioneer’s through the rest of the regular season.
“I think that the reason we’ve won so far is because we’ve been very prepared from a team standpoint,” Hooker said. “The mentality has been great in the sense of just going out and playing everybody the best we can. In some instances, we’ve been fortunate and we’ve been lucky. We’ve just been better than the other opponent on the given day. We’ve beaten some impressive teams already, but we have to keep it in perspective. We still have a ways to go to being a better team.”
Four home games remain for the Pioneers at CIBER Field, having tied TCU and lost to Nebraska during its most recent road trip.
“We need to keep trying to head in the direction that we are now,” Hamilton said. “Hopefully we will get our first conference win and get back to where we were last year. I think we have the potential to go out there and push ourselves to be the best we can be.”
