Photo: Last match, DU women’s soccer dropped a heartbreaker to Gonzaga 2-1 at CIBER Field

Denver women’s soccer started the season strong, going 3-1-0 with three wins against Northern Colorado and then Air Force and Colorado State University in the Colorado Cup. The Denver program, which had started slowly after terrible nonconference starts over the past two years, was poised to have an outstanding year. The Summit League coaches even tabbed the squad as the Summit League favorite.

Then, the team went to 1-3-1 over their next five matches, scoring one goal in each of their three losses and two goals in the tie and dropped to a 3-3-1 record.

That makes the upcoming match against CU in the Colorado Cup series this Saturday night at 7:00 CIBER Field critical to the Pioneer hopes. Colorado, sitting just outside the Top 25 NCAA coaches poll would be a huge win for the Pioneers. It would give the program state bragging rights for the year and signal a potential shift in power. Colorado has had the best of DU women’s soccer the last three years. And a win would help in local recruiting as well. But the biggest benefit would be to the confidence of a team that has improved this year but is not enjoying results for their recent effort.

For the season, Denver has out-shot their opponents 107 (SOG 46) to 75 (SOG 35). Denver has scored 13 goals to 12 for their opponents. Brittany Wilson has been very solid in goal for the Pioneers and senior forward  Jessie Dancy (11) and sophomore midfielder Hannah Adler (10) are the point leaders for the Pios. Denver’s back line has shown to be vulnerable to speedy offensive attacks against Denver’s back line – so that will be something to watch for Saturday night.

Aside from the Summit League playoffs for an NCAA auto-bid, Saturday night looms as the most important game this season for DU women’s soccer.