Sept. 26, 2004

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The University of Denver women's soccer team lost to No. 15 Santa Clara in the final game of the Santa Clara adidas Classic, Sunday afternoon. Senior captain Maggie Kirchhoff (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and sophomore goalkeeper Danielle Wiley (Littleton, Colo.) were both named to all-tournament team.

Led by Kirchhoff, the Pioneers held the Broncos scoreless for a majority of the first half. It wasn't until the 41st minute the Broncos went ahead 1-0. The goal was scored on a header by Tina Estrada from a free kick from Michaela Esquivel.

The Pioneers had chances to score and never gave up challenging for an equalizing goal, although were unable to covert. For the remainder of the game, the Pioneers held the Broncos to just one goal.

In the 38th minute, to try to get ahead 1-0, freshman Taryn Hemmings (Greeley, Colo.) passed the ball to sophomore Lleane Grimditch (Boulder, Colo.) passing it to junior Carlynn McCallum (Denver, Colo.) who tried to get a foot on the ball, but Santa Clara goalie Julie Ryder smothered it before her shot could get off.

Again,in the 40th minute, the Pioneers had another opportunity when Kirchhoff took a free kick and served it to freshman Jenna Billingsley (Littleton, Colo.). Billingsley charged ahead attempted to shoot, but was called offside as the ball went over the goal.

In the 44th minute to close out the first half and try to even the score, Grimditch had the ball in the middle dribbling it, trying to find an open Pioneer. She passed it to Billingsley who just missed getting a foot on the ball.

Billingsley had another shot in the second half, on serve off free kick from Kirchhoff. The ball bounced around the middle before Billingsley got a shot off.

Wiley had a stellar performance in goal making three dynamic saves, while Denver had two team saves. The Broncos had 6 total shots on goal. Wiley increases her number of saves to 59 on the season.

"For the entire 90 minutes it was a total team effort," said head coach Jeff Hooker. "It still is hard to lose, but being on the road and playing one of the nation's top teams, I thought this was our best defensive performance yet."

The Pioneers return to action this weekend when they travel to Arkansas to begin Sun Belt Conference play against Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State.