CEDAR CITY, Utah – The University of Denver women's soccer team (5-3-0, 0-0-0 Summit) posted its biggest offensive output of the season so far with a 5-2 win at Southern Utah on Sunday afternoon.
 
After a weather delay of about an hour and a half, Denver started play with a goal not even five minutes in from senior Riley Baker. SUU pulled even in the 13^th minute before sophomore Liv Moritz scored twice – once on either side of halftime – including what would be the game winner in the 61^st minute.
 
Just shy of five minutes later, freshman Megan Murray scored a fourth Denver goal with an assist from her sister, graduate student Vanessa Murray. The Thunderbirds came within two goals again after scoring just 19 seconds after M. Murray's goal, but DU reclaimed a three-goal lead when redshirt sophomore Emma Thielbahr scored off a late corner kick for her first collegiate goal.
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS:                                 

• DU's five goals are its most since a 6-0 win over Colgate at home on September 7, 2023, and the most in a road match since a 5-1 win at Oral Roberts on October 21, 2022.
• Denver finished with 12 shots on goal, four more than the Pioneers have had any other match so far in 2024.
  • It is the most SOGs since DU also had 12 against NC State at home on September 3, 2023.
  • It is also the most SOGs by DU on the road since having 13 at North Dakota on October 22, 2021.
• For the second time in her career, Moritz scored a brace that also included a game winner (also at Oregon on September 10, 2023).
  • Her second goal on Sunday was the third game winner of her career and her first of the season.
• Baker's goal at 4:32 was DU's first inside the opening five minutes of play this season and was the 20^th-earliest goal scored by DU on the road in its Division I history.
• Denver's third and fourth goals were scored just 4:58 apart, which is:
  • The sixth-fastest in a DU non-conference away match, and
  • The 25^th-fastest in any road match in Denver's DI history.

FIRST HALF:
5' | Baker gained possession of the ball at the back end of the middle third. She beat four different SUU defenders during her run toward the net before successfully pushing the ball past the keeper at the far post.
 
13' | SUU's Chelsea Loeser found an equalizer from the edge of the 18-yard box, beating an outstretched Molly Wissman in the upper corner of the net.
 
20' | Wissman and the Denver backline line combined to clear multiple shot attempts from inside the 18-yard box.
 
28' | Moritz carried the ball toward the top of the box before sending it past the keeper and into the lower left corner of the net.
 
41' | Redshirt junior Samantha Dreiling drew a foul about 23 yards back from the goal, setting up an Ella Frost free kick that curled wide left.
 
45' | Senior Delaney McGowan beat a couple SUU defenders and let a shot loose at the net, forcing the SUU keeper to push it clear.
 
SECOND HALF:
47' | Sophomore Michaela McGowan fed a ball into the box and successfully connected with M. Murray, who sent the ball past the far post.
 
57' | Frost sent the ball into the box from near midfield and connected with an approaching S. Dreiling, who forced a notable save from the SUU keeper.
 
59' | Baker seemed to have a second goal after sneaking a header past the keeper, but she was ruled offside.
 
61' | S. Dreiling eventually won a battle with an SUU defender down the left side of the pitch and got a cross off into the box that Moritz settled and punched into the back of the net.
 
66' | The Murray sisters together started a DU attack near the center circle with the elder Murray carrying it up the pitch. She threaded the ball through the SUU defense and to her younger sister in the box, where M. Murray got behind the keeper and finished the job.
 
66' | SUU pulled back within two goals after Kiersi Fietkau beat Wissman in the upper corner of the net.
 
80' | Wissman came off her line to challenge an SUU attack, and Frost finished the job with a clear from near the penalty mark.
 
85' | Frost took a late Denver corner and placed it right in the center of the box where Thielbahr found the back of the net with a header.
 
WHAT'S NEXT:
DU (5-3-0, 0-0-0 Summit) hits the midway point of its five-match road trip when it visits Colorado State on Thursday, September 12, at 7 p.m. MT in what will be the Pioneers' only match of the week.
 
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2024 University of Denver women's soccer season are now on sale and can be purchased at denverpioneers.com/tickets or by calling the Ritchie Center Box Office at 303-871-4625.
 
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