Junior goalkeeper Lara Campbell on Oct. 7, 2011 during the South Alabama match @ CIBER Field

The University of Denver’s women’s soccer team has had an amazing season, and finished with 16 wins and only five losses.

Junior goalkeeper Lara Campbell made an astounding 43 saves this season even after suffering a, high ankle sprain injury early on in the season.

During, “Captain’s practice, right before preseason started, I dove for a ball and landed weird and my ankle twisted.” Campbell said.

Campbell still had to attend practices while she was injured.

“It was fun to just see everyone and kind of see where the team was headed but it definitely was not a great experience.” Campbell said.

Luckily Campbell was able to recover by gradually strengthening her ankle before returning to the field for the rest of the season.

“As far as coming back and playing, it’s definitely been an adjustment in itself just because I haven’t really had a major injury in college,” however, “my trainer was great and my teammates were really helpful.” Campbell said.

When Campbell is not on the soccer field she enjoys participating in outdoor activities like, hiking and fishing.

Campbell is double majoring in Integrated Sciences and Psychology at DU and hopes to become a physical therapist.

She chose to go to DU because, “the soccer team was a lot of fun when I came and visited, the campus was beautiful and honestly the academics are great.” Campbell said.

Campbell has been playing soccer for about 13 years and, “it’s really helped me grow as a person.” Campbell said.

In order to balance soccer, school and a personal life, “you really have to be able to manage time effectively in order to make sure you have all of your tasks done for school.” Campbell said.

Her advice for future soccer players is, “work hard and have fun with it.”

Freshman foward Christian Volesky, right, with the ball during the College of Charleston match on Sept. 18, 2011 @ CIBER Field.

The University of Denver’s men’s soccer team finished the season with, (5-3-11).

Freshman forward Christian Volesky had an extremely successful season with, six goals and one assist.

He made a total of 32 shots and 16 of those shots were shots on goal this season.

Volesky is a Communications major at DU and does not have a specific plan with what he is going to do with that degree at the moment.

The biggest difference between High School and College soccer is, “Season play besides the players.” Volesky said.

Volesky played a total of 762 minutes during his first year at DU.

“I’ve had a great experience.” Volesky said.

Volesky chose to go to DU because, “I love Denver and the coaching staff was great to me. They run a successful program.” Volesky said.

Volesky has been playing soccer since he was 5 and said that soccer “made me a stronger person.”

His advice for future soccer players is to, “work hard,” and, “everything comes from good work and becoming a better person and player, on and off the field.”

Hamilton during the Oct. 7, 2011 match versus South Alabama @ CIBER Field.

This year’s University of Denver’s women’s soccer team has been winning games left and right, after 21 games, they have come out victorious in 16 of them. Sophomore forward Kristen Hamilton made a large contribution to those statistics. This season, Hamilton has scored a total of 16 goals and made nine assists.

Hamilton’s best experience for the season was during the Nebraska and DU match on Aug. 25, 2011. DU was the first to score a goal and then shortly after Nebraska scored, leaving the match tied in the first half. In the second half Nebraska scored first and DU scored within 20 minutes, again in a tie.

Then, “I scored with 1 minute left in the game. It was pretty exciting,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton is a returning starter for the DU women’s soccer team and decided to attend the college after Coach Jeff Hooker talked to her about it and she, “loved the campus and the soccer field,” Hamilton said.

“On the field Kristen is an intense fiery player. She imposes her physical play on other players even though she is not the biggest player on the field.” Hooker said.

The soccer field is where Hamilton goes at 7:45 am before school and spends an hour and a half of her time for practice. She has figured out that balancing school, soccer and a personal life is, “something learned over time.”

Soccer has been in Hamilton’s life since she was 4, and overall it has been beneficial in, “time management,” along with, “not looking out for yourself, but teammates too.”

In fact after team member Kaitlin Bast was injured earlier in the season, “Kristen has lifted her game and taken the team on her back and carried the team thru some of the games.” Hooker said.

With that, Hamilton’s advice for future players is that soccer is “a lot of commitment” and to, “work hard to get where you want. It’s fun in the end and worth it,” Hamilton said.

Midfielder Brian Hoyt passing the ball Friday, Oct. 7, @ CIBER Field.

DU men fall to the University of New Mexico, with the final score of 3-2 Friday at CIBER Field.

New Mexico (8-0-2, 2-0-0 MPSF).
Denver (2-5-3, 0-1-1 MPSF).

The first goal of the night went to UNM’s forward Blake Smith.

Five minutes later midfielder Jarod Stigall tied the game with an assist from forward Kellan Christensen.

The score before halftime was 1-1.

Within minutes of the second half DU puts its second point on the board, after forward Christian Volesky receives the ball from defender Blake Shannon and midfielder Zach Bolden.

Then UNM forward Devon Sandoval scored from a pass by forward Levi Rossi.

This tie lasted for most of the game.

However, in the 84th minute UNM defender Matthew Gibbons scored the winning goal with an assist from Smith.

Junior foward, Kalie Vaughn with the ball during the South Alabama match, Oct. 7, at CIBER Field.

DU women take a victory over South Alabama Friday, at CIBER FIELD with a final score of DU, 7 and South Alabama 0.

South Alabama (9-3-2, 2-2-1 SBC).
Denver (11-2-0, 5-0-0 SBC).

After 40 minutes of playing, DU scored the first set of goals with in 14 seconds of each other.

Midfielder Anna Willis scored the first with assists from midfielders Sara Riazi and Kari Storslett.

Then Storslett passed the ball to forward Kristen Hamilton who scored on a one-on-one play with South Alabama’s goalkeeper Melissa Drish, right before the close of the first half.

Not long after the second half started, Storslett scored again with help form Midfielder Nicholette DiGiacomo, who would also score her own goal later in the game.

Forward Kalie Vaughn scored the final two goals of the game with help from Willis and forward Cassidy Larson.

Overall DU attempted 26 shots, and South Alabama made 4.

DU is now (2-4-3, 0-0-1 MPSF) and Air Force (6-2-1, 0-0-1 MPSF). Saturday’s match was the opener in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play for both sides.

Throughout the game each team made 22 shots, DU had 11 shots on goal and Air Force had nine.

Juniors Drew Beckie and Alex Tarnoczi both attempted 5 shots each.

Junior goalkeeper Mate Aguirre saved a total of nine goals, five of which were in the second period alone.

Next Up: DU is set to host New Mexico, Friday Oct. 7 at 7:45 pm at CIBER field.

Kristen Hamilton led DU with her second two-goal game of the season, while Nicholette DiGiacomo and Bria Beardsley also scored. Goalkeeper Lara Campbell made one save in the win.

DiGiacomo opened the scoring in the fifth minute on Kari Storslett’s first assist of the season.

Hamilton gave the Pioneers a 2-0 advantage in the 18th minute off a set-piece. Beardsley sent the corner kick into the Blue Raiders six-yard box and Hamilton got the loose ball on her foot, and put it by the keeper.

Middle Tennessee closed the gap to 2-1 on a bomb off the foot of sophomore midfielder Jessika Oseguera in the 21st minute from 25 yards out.

Defender Sam Harder scored her first career goal in the 33rd minute catching the MT keeper off her line, bouncing a shot under the cross bar to make it 3-1.

Hamilton scored her second of the match, and her sixth of the season in the 78th minute as she deflected a shot off the foot of Beardsley into the back of the net.

Before DU finished its celebration of Hamilton’s goal that put the Pioneers up 4-1, senior forward Shan Jones scored her third goal of the season from just inside the box to bring the Blue Raiders back to within two.

Next Up: The Pioneers will end their current four game home-stand on Sunday when they host to Western Kentucky at 1 p.m.

After this loss DU is now, (1-3-2) while Charleston is now, (4-2-1).

Charleston player Andy Craven scored the first and only goal in the first half of the game. Teammates Ralphie Lundy and Shawn Ferguson were credited with assisting Craven.

Once the second half got underway Charleston player Sean de Silva scored another goal, with Craven’s assist, making them up by two.

Moments later DU player Brian Hoyt scored the first goal. Jarod Stigall and Alex Tarnoczi helped assist that goal.

This goal was welcomed by DU fans and players but argued by Charleston players.

With a little over 19 minutes left in the second half, Hoyt tied the score with his second goal of the game.

However this tie was short lived because Craven scored for Charleston with about 16 minutes left, making the final score, Charleston, 3 and DU, 2.

Next Up: DU will be in Calif. to play Cal State Fullerton at 8 p.m.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well in any portion of the game, but I guess we were good enough to get two back,” said head coach Bobby Muuss. “Defensively, today we were poor. That is something that we pride ourselves on. I’m just utterly disappointed.”

Trailing by two goals in the second half, Denver (1-3-2) cut the lead by one when Jarod Stigall sent a long pass to junior Alex Tarnoczi along the right side. Tarnoczi centered the ball to the middle of the goal box, where Hoyt buried it.

In the 71st minute, Hoyt tied the game up at 2-2, when he fired a free kick from 40 yards past keeper Kees Heemskerk and just into the far post.

CofC (4-2-1) got the lead back when Troy Peterson sent the ball in to Andy Craven, who chased it down in stride and knocked it home.

Next Up: The Pioneers will travel to California for a two-game swing against Cal State Fullerton on Friday and Cal Poly on Sept. 25. Denver will return home to open up Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play against Air Force on Oct. 1 at CIBER Field.

The Pioneers (6-2-0) finished the Denver Invitational 1-1-0.

“The first half, they were a little better than we were,” said coach Jeff Hooker. “The goals we gave up were things we’ve been working on. The ball got cleared, and we pushed up and nobody took a look over their back shoulder, and they had three players out there. The shot was going wide and got deflected and went in.”

Auburn (6-1-1) got the scoring started early as midfielder Ana Cate netted her fourth goal of the season when she deflected a shot inside the goal box from Mary Coffed in the opening three minutes of play.

The Tigers added a second goal from senior Heather Havron on a free kick that bounced just over Pioneer keeper Lara Campbell’s head and slipped just under the cross bar with five minutes left in the first half.

In a half which featured four yellow cards (three Auburn, one Denver), the Pioneers managed to get nine shots, four of which made their way on net. As the half came to a close, Denver was awarded a penalty kick in the goal box, but the shot from Bria Beardsley was saved by Auburn ‘keeper Chandler Hillen.

Denver was awarded another penalty kick in the 48th minute after a foul in the box, and DiGiacomo buried it.

Next Up: The Pioneer women open Sun Belt Conference play next weekend at CIBER Field. DU will host defending SBC Tournament champion Middle Tennessee on Friday at 7 p.m. and Western Kentucky on Sept. 25 at 1 p.m.