DENVER – The University of Denver women’s soccer team opened the Colorado Cup with a 1-0 win over Air Force on Sunday morning at CIBER Field at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

“From a coaching stand point, it’s difficult to do,” head coach Jeff Hooker said on having an exhibition game as a part of the Colorado Cup. “You want to get all the players in in an exhibition game, and we weren’t able to do that today, we weren’t able to go that deep. They’ll be players that didn’t play today, that will get to play in our 11v11 on Tuesday  (in Vail). I thought we came out with some good energy, and I thought Air Force was really, really good, especially in the first 20 minutes.”

After 30 minutes of working the preseason kinks out, junior forward Taylor Ivins (West Haven, Utah) found the breakthrough in the 31st minute off an assist from freshman midfielder Jocelyn Loomis (Sandy, Utah). Redshirt senior Shannen Johnson (Golden, Colo.) switched the point of attack to Loomis to begin the play. Loomis played a through ball in-between the outside back and center back to a running Ivins who tucked her strike inside the far post, past oncoming Falcon keeper Meghan Strang. 

“What Taylor has done in the last year is really worked on her composure,” Hooker said of the junior striker. “That’s what you saw on that goal. The old Taylor coming in as a freshman would have kicked the ball as hard as she could at the keeper, and it would have bounced off the keeper. (Today) the keeper went down, she did everything right, chipped it over the keeper, and hit the side netting. That’s everything you can ask for. It was pretty much un-saveable the way she hit it.”

Denver went into the locker room with that one-goal advantage, and saw the game out to get three points in the Colorado Cup opener. Air Force did create a few scoring chances in the second half, but sophomore keeper Cassidy Rey (Arcadia, Calif.) came up with clutch save after clutch save as she did a year ago to earn the 2013 Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year Award.

Air Force outshot Denver 15-9, with a three shot advantage in both halves. The Pioneers held a 6-3 edge in corners, and Rey ended up with six saves, including four in the second 45 minutes.

Don't miss out on Pioneer soccer action this fall. Season and individual game tickets are on sale now. Fans interested in purchasing tickets can do so by phone at 303-871-2336, in person at the Richie Center box office or through DenverPioneers.com by clicking here. 

Denver will officially open the 2014 campaign away from home with matches at Nevada on August 22, and at Colorado College on August 24. DU’s match at CC is the Pioneers second of three matches in this year’s Colorado Cup. The Pioneers 2014 home opener is September 5, when DU plays host to Detroit at CIBER Field at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. 

The Pioneers will host Texas Tech in the squad’s final exhibition of the season on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. MT at CIBER Field.

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