The South Dakota women's soccer team dropped its first Summit League game of the season after a 4-2 defeat by the Denver Pioneers. The Coyotes were able to stick with the defending regular-season champions through the first half, but DU's offensive attack was too much to handle and pulled away with two goals in the second half. South Dakota's record now stands at 1-6-5 (0-1-2 Summit) while Denver improves its record to 6-4-3 (3-0-1 Summit).

The Pioneers outshot the Coyotes 16-5 by the end of the game, but South Dakota made the most of its opportunities in order to stay in the game. DU's Kaitlyn Glover got on the board first a few seconds into the eighth minute of the game. Riley Baker was running with the ball on the right side of the field when she sent a ball to the middle of the box. Glover stuck her foot out and redirected the ball past a diving Caroline Lewis for her first goal of the day. About four minutes later, South Dakota's Ashby Johnston scored her second goal in as many games to tie the match. On the left side of the field, Taylor Cotter worked all the way to the top of the box where she found some space to fire off a shot to the right side of the net. Denver's goalkeeper Nerea Arrazola made a diving save to fend off Cotter's attempt, but Johnston was standing nearby to kick the deflection back into the net for her second goal of the season.

The Pioneers retook the lead nearing the 17th minute of the game off Sami Feller's fourth goal of the season. Vanessa Murray was on the left side of the field when she found an open Glover standing at the top of the box. Glover one-touched the ball and sent it through a couple of Coyote defenders to a wide-open Feller that beat Lewis to the left side of the net. The Coyotes answered once again midway through the 30th minute to knot the game up a second time. With a couple of Denver defenders on her, Cotter sent a ball from the left side of the field perfectly past the defense. The ball found a streaking Joana Zanin from the right side where she was able to tap the ball just over the line despite the attempt to kick the ball out by Denver. The goal was Zanin's third of the season and tied the game at two heading into halftime.

Denver took the lead for good five minutes out of the break on the first goal of the season by Addisyn Hyrup. Devan McSwain passed the ball to Hyrup who was a few yards outside of the penalty box, took one touch, and booted a ball to the corner pocket of the net on the left side. Glover added insurance to the game with her second goal of the day midway through the 65th minute to seal the 4-2 victory.

Zanin led the offensive effort with two shots while Cotter, Johnston, and Shaylee Gailus each added a shot of their own. Lewis made three saves on the day playing the full 90 minutes.

South Dakota returns to action next week for Friday and Sunday games. The Coyotes will first travel to Western Illinois for a Friday afternoon match before ending the weekend at St. Thomas on Sunday afternoon.