BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Lady Toppers came up short in a hard-fought game against Denver Friday night at the WKU Soccer Complex, losing to the Pioneers 2-0. Denver scored midway through each half to account for the scoring on the night and moves into a tie with WKU in the Sun Belt Conference standings, with each team having a 7-2 record in league play. The Lady Toppers are now 12-4-1 overall and Denver moves to 12-5-1.

WKU outshot Denver 9-5, with five of the Lady Toppers’ looks being on-goal. Three players had two each to lead WKU, and five different players recorded a shot for Denver.

Mariah Johnston opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a chip shot into the top right corner of the goal, and Kelsey Quinn scored in the 60th minute to put Denver ahead by the eventual final score of 2-0.

WKU had chances throughout the game, as Mallory Outerbridge had a scoring run stopped by a sliding goalkeeper early in the game and multiple attempts to get the Lady Toppers on the scoresheet started by Kellie Walker were unsuccessful.

WKU could not take capitalize off of five corner kicks, as the stingy Pioneer defense knocked away each try.

The loss, which snapped a six-game winning streak for WKU, was just its fourth home defeat in the last four seasons. Denver has now won 11 of 13 meetings all time against the Lady Toppers.

Up Next: The Lady Toppers are back in action Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., as they take on North Texas. It will be Senior Day at the WKU Soccer Complex, where WKU will honor the contributions of seven seniors in a pre-game ceremony. Entering play this weekend WKU was just one-half game behind first-place North Texas in the Sun Belt Conference standings. The Mean Green played at Middle Tennessee Friday night.