Box Score DENVER - University of Denver women's soccer freshman forward Kaitlin Bast (Centennial, Colo.) had a hat trick and senior midfielder Mariah Johnston (Littleton, Colo.) collected four assists, as the Pioneers beat Louisiana-Lafayette 6-1 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
"It a great way to open up conference play this weekend, going undefeated, especially after a disappointing series last weekend," head coach Jeff Hooker said. "We felt like the team turned it around and is starting to get back on track."
Johnston set Bast up for all three of her goals, which all came in the first 27:04 of the game, to give the Pioneers (7-3-1, 2-0-0 SBC) a 3-0 lead heading into halftime.
DU freshman forward Kalie Vaughn (Fort Collins, Colo.) gave Denver a fourth goal just one minute into the second half. Senior midfielder Kelli Breidenbach (Fort Collins, Colo.) fed a pass to the middle of the box, and Vaughn beat the Ragin' Cajun goalkeeper.
Kelli Jestes put Louisiana-Lafayette (0-9-1, 0-2-0 SBC) on the board in the 49th minute, grabbing a long pass from goalkeeper Lauren Berlingo and drilling a 30-yard shot over the hands of DU goalkeeper Maria Khan (Aurora, Colo.).
Johnston again delivered an assist in the 64th minute off a perfectly placed corner kick delivered to the right foot of junior defender Jessie Rogers (Fort Collins, Colo.) for the goal.
Junior forward Lauren Fields (Albuquerque, N.M.) scored her first career goal in the 88th minute after receiving a pass in the middle of the box from sophomore midfielder Kari Storslett (Bakersfield, Calif.) and beating the goalkeeper.
During two games this weekend, Bast had 12 points off five goals and two assists.
Denver travels to South Florida next weekend to continue Sun Belt Conference action, when the Pioneers take on Florida International on Friday at 5 p.m. MT and Florida Atlantic on Sunday at 10 a.m. MT.
