DENVER – The University of Denver women's soccer team defeated Air Force 5-0 in the regular season opener on Thursday night at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
Scoring Summary:
DEN: Glover 18' (Feller and Kingsbury), Sharp 57' (Crockett), Kingsbury 58', Wells 76' (Goodrich, Frost), Dannenhauer 77' (Feller)
Quotable – Head Coach Jeff Hooker
"We were a little bit nervous in the first half and gave the ball away too easily. We talked at halftime about settling down, and having a little bit more movement in the midfield. I thought we had a lot more cohesiveness and I thought our shape was so much better in the second half. It allowed us to continue to finish plays.
"I consider last season a very successful season, and one of the reasons we pointed to was the depth we had and still have at every position. Players keep getting pushed at practice and a day like today showed that we have that depth again, and hopefully we can stay healthy and continue to showcase that depth."
Join Denver FC Today:
For the 2021 season, the University of Denver announced the creation of a new DU soccer fan club called "Denver FC". Fans that purchase the Denver FC package will get season tickets to all Denver men's and women's soccer home games, a Denver FC scarf and a season parking pass for all Denver Soccer home events.
Purchase here.
Denver's Colorado Cup Schedule
August 14 at Colorado College W – 3-1
August 19 Air Force W, 5-0
August 22 Colorado State (2:30 p.m. MT)
Thursday's Colorado Cup Match Results:
Colorado vs. Colorado State – No contest
Northern Colorado 3-1 Colorado College
Denver 5-0 Air Force
First Half:
Kaitlyn Glover opened the scoring for the Pioneers in the 18
th minute on a long-throw from
Chaynee Kingsbury. Kingsbury's throw was a yard from the corner flag and was flicked in the penalty area from
Sami Feller. Feller's header fell to the feet of Glover, who knocked home her first of the campaign. Dating back to last season, Glover has scored five goals in Denver's last six matches.
Second Half:
Denver pushed the advantage to 2-0 in the 57
th minute on
Sydney Sharp's first of the regular season, third in two matches including the exhibition and fourth goal in the last five official matches for the Crimson and Gold.
Jordan Crockett played a free kick just inside the midline that took a bounce in the box and Sharp got on the end of it to put it home and give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead.
Exactly a minute later, Kingsbury made it 3-0 on an unassisted goal from the top of the box in the 58
th minute. Kingsbury played a pass into the area that was deflected and fell back to Kinsbury. The second year Pioneer got on the end of the bouncing ball just outside the penalty area and fired home her first goal in two seasons at Denver. Denver's first two goals of the half were the 10
th-fastest consecutive goals in Denver's Division I history.
The Pioneers continued to put on the pressure, scoring two more times within 1:35 of eachother.
Taylor Wells got her first of her sophomore campaign and the third of her young career in the 76
th minute off assists from
Jadyn Goodrich and
Ella Frost. Frost connected to Goodrich in the center of the park, before Goodrich played a well-weighted through ball to the run of Wells. Wells attacked the pass first time and beat the Air Force keeper to her right to push Denver's lead to 4-0.
In the 77
th minute,
McKenna Dannenhauer scored the second goal of her collegiate career to make it 5-0.
Sami Feller won a header off an Air Force goal kick and Dannenhauer out-ran the Falcons backline and clipped a shot over the charging keeper and into an empty net.
With the two assists, Feller passed former Pioneer
Hannah Adler and now has 69 career points to take over ninth in Denver's career record book.
What's Next:
Denver will host "Colorado Cup Sunday" this weekend when the Pioneers welcome all six Division I teams to the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. Colorado and Colorado College will kickoff at 12 p.m. MT, Denver and Colorado State is set for 2:30 p.m. MT and Air Force and Northern Colorado will close out the day at 5 p.m. MT. One ticket will get fans into all three games. The Denver and CSU match will be streamed live on Pioneer Vision.
Tickets:
Season tickets and single game tickets for the 2021 campaign are on sale now, and can be purchased
here.
DONATE:
Fans interested in making a donation to the Pioneers Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will transform the lives of our student-athletes by giving them the first-class resources needed to excel in the classroom, in competition and beyond. Thank you for Building Pioneers for Life!
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