Oct. 31, 2001
Box Score
The University of Denver women's soccer team put on an elegant display of soccer in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a convincing 3-0 win over No. 6 seeded Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday (Oct. 31) night at University Park in Miami, Fla. Denver advanced to the semifinals with its 14th shutout of the season and will face No. 2 Florida International on Thursday (Nov. 1).
Denver's dominance was exemplified in the opening half as they controlled play on both ends of the field. The Pioneer's executed their attack at will against the Ragin Cajuns, which was led by sophomore forward Jenni Harris (Littleton, Colo.) who doubled her regular season production with a goal and an assist. Denver's suffocating defense was superb as they have been all season and held ULL without a shot in the first period.
Denver celebrated an early goal from Harris three minutes into the contest that she set up herself with a somersault throw-in from the left sideline. The ball found its way through the pack in front of the net before junior Camile Flenniken (Northglenn, Colo.) tracked it down and sent it back in front of the net where Harris awaited the pass and chipped it in the short side of the net past Cajun keeper Leslie Beckman, to record her second tally of the year and give the Pioneers a 1-0 advantage.
Senior Leslie Montgomery (Lakewood, Colo.) added Denver's second goal of the evening, her second of the year, ten minutes later that was set up by another Harris throw-in. Junior Katie Antongiovanni (Bakersfield, Calif.) controlled possession of the ball from Harris and set up Montgomery in front of the net with a well-placed centering pass. Junior Kristin Warren (Littleton, Colo.) scored on a penalty kick just over a minute later after Antongiovanni was tackled inside the box to extend Denver's lead to 3-0.
Louisiana-Lafayette's defense put the clamps on in the second half and rallied for four shots late in the half but were unable to produce a legitimate scoring opportunity and suffered elimination from the tournament at the hands of the Pioneers. For the game Denver out-shot the Ragin Cajuns 14-4 and held the advantage in corner kicks 3-1.
Junior keeper Erica Izard (Fort Collins, Colo.) was forced to make only one save to record her 30th career shutout, first in post-season play, and is now in sole possession of second place on Denver's all-time wins list with 33.
"We got it done in the first half," said 2001 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Jeff Hooker. "Give them credit though, they came out in the second half and pressured us and battled to the end. Our play was a bit sloppy in the second half but that is something we can improve before tomorrow night."
The Golden Panthers advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win over No. 7 seed Middle Tennessee. No. 1 seed North Texas and No. 4 seed Western Kentucky also advanced to the semifinals and will face each other in the early game on Thursday. Denver and FIU will compete in the late game for the second year in a row, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. mountain time. Both teams battled to a 1-1 draw last Thursday (Oct. 25) in regular season play. The Golden Panthers eliminated Denver from the tournament last year with a 3-2 double-overtime victory and holds a 2-0-1 lead in the all-time series between these two teams.
