Huskers Take Down Denver, 1-0, in Final Tune Up

Lincoln -- Freshman Ashley Carter and the Nebraska soccer team collected the first win of the 2003 season, defeating Denver, 1-0, Friday night in front of 405 fans at the Abbott Sports Complex.

The Huskers faced the Pioneers in the final of two exhibition games before entering the regular season next Friday, Aug. 29, against DePaul.

"It was a great training game," Coach John Walker said. "There were a lot of good performances. The first half was not great, but the second half was much better."

In the 67th minute, junior Jenna Cooper exploded by the Pioneer defense on the left side of the field and blasted a shot to the center of the box where the ball found Carter's foot for the only goal of the game.

"I was happy about (scoring)," Carter said. "Jenna kicked a bullet at my foot. I was just in the right place at the right time."

Nebraska nearly doubled their shots in the second half, recording nine shots after only five in the first half. The offensive production was evenly distributed with 10 Huskers recording a shot, with the exception of freshman Jessie Bruch, who launched four shots of her own.

"In the second half we had much better pressure up front," Walker said. "The defense was good all night. A lot of the young players got good minutes, and I was pleased."

Both of Nebraska's goalkeepers saw action Friday night as well as both of Denver's. NU's Brooke Bredenberg added another win to her resume with two saves, while Katie Wright notched one.

The Huskers dominated corner kicks in the second half of play. Nebraska had seven for the game compared to Denver's two, after NU only recorded one in the first half.

Junior Iman Haynes presented the another convincing shot, with a header that resulted in a save by Cassandra Kaeding in the second half.

The Pioneer's best scoring opportunity came in the first half when the offense made a run and got behind NU's defense, before Aly Scace made a great play to catch up to the ball and hold off any scoring chance by Denver.

The Huskers outshot the Pioneers, 14-3, for the contest, but Denver recorded three shots on goal to Nebraska's two.

Nebraska will open the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday at the Abbott Sports Complex and will face Iowa Sunday at 7 p.m.