DENVER – In thier third midseason tournament of the season, the Pioneers started this year’s Denver Invitational how they started the first two, with a victory.  For the second straight match, the Pioneers earned a shutout to send them past Cal State Bakersfield 1-0 on Friday evening.

The Pioneers created a plethora of chances in the first half but weren’t able to find the back of the net.  Two first half shots for DU ricocheted off the cross bar and another chance found the left post. DU held a 12-4 shot advantage at the intermission, but the Pioneers put only three of those chances on target.

Junior midfielder Katy Van Lieshout (Boulder, Colo.) provided the game’s only goal, scoring for the Pioneers (6-1-0) in the 54^th minute off a solid cross from sophomore forward Kristen Hamilton (Littleton, Colo.).

“Katy Van did a great job of getting the game-winner,” head coach Jeff Hooker said. “I thought she played very well throughout the course of the game.  She hasn’t really played 90 minutes up top, so we had to do what we could to limit her time, but I think it benefited us.”

Possession was balanced in the opening nine minutes of the match before the Van Lieshout goal.  Hamilton dribbled the ball down the left side before cutting it back to the middle of the field.  The sophomore then sent a cross on the ground to the feet of Van Lieshout, who took a touch and sent the ball past Roadrunner (2-5-0) senior keeper Kym Gause for the opening goal of the match.

Junior goalkeeper Lara Campbell (Anchorage, Alaska) recorder her second consecutive shutout in a four-save effort for the Pioneers.

Denver held a 17-9 shot advantage in the match, and a 7-3 edge in corners.  

In the first match of the afternoon, Colorado took a pair of leads at 1-0 and 2-1, but No. 22 Auburn equalized both times, and after 110 minutes the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

DU will face Auburn on Sunday at 10 a.m. MT. That match will be followed by the DU men’s match against College of Charleston at 12:15 p.m. MT. Colorado and CSUB will round out the Denver Invitational at 2:30 p.m. MT.

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