Babb, Larson score 5 goals in win

Thursday, October 24

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-11-1, 3-3-0

Chicago State

0-17-0, 0-6-0

Chicago St.

Grand Canyon

10/24/2019 9:42:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Babb scores 1st GCU hat trick since 2015

By: Jerob Moon

Grand Canyon redshirt freshman Dani Babb's hat trick led a big offensive night for Lopes women's soccer Thursday night in a 5-0 shutout of Chicago State at GCU Stadium.

Babb, a forward in her fifth start, became the first GCU player to score three goals in a match since Deseree Doty scored four goals against Chicago State in a 7-1 win on Oct. 9, 2015.

Junior forward Camryn Larson also added a pair of goals to round out the scoring for the Lopes (4-11-1, 3-3 WAC), who moved into fifth place in the conference standings with nine points.

"We knew we needed the points," GCU head coach Derek Leader said. "It was good to get a little back in form. We had a rough weekend with two more starters out, so it made our game on Sunday rough at California Baptist. For Dani and Cam to get those goals and then to rest them is a positive for us. But I was most excited by the ball movement."

Babb got the scoring started for GCU early in the in the ninth minute, when she gathered the rebound of junior midfielder Haley Bostard's shot that deflected off the crossbar and tucked it into the net.

Thirteen minutes later, Babb again scored off assists from freshman forward Sophia Roberts and sophomore forward Carlie Bateman, who fed the ball to Babb on the left side of the box to set up the goal.

"The team performance was definitely on top of it," Babb said. "We definitely didn't want to let down and kept going at them. All my goals are my team's work. They worked really hard and I was lucky to get the rebound shots."

Babb finished the hat trick in the 52nd minute. After her shot was initially blocked by the Chicago State goalie, Babb recovered and scored her fourth goal in the past four matches.

Larson added two goals in the 39th and 48 minutes with sophomore forward Remmi Deutsch, freshman midfielder Emma Anderson and redshirt freshman forward Jaycee Iranshad assisting.

"I think my goals as well were from our teammates and we were just there to put them away like we should be," Larson said. "Just for Utah Valley, we need to come out with the same energy and the same way we played with all the passing and the opportunities we created. If we do that, we can get another three points and continue to rise in the WAC standings."

The Lopes finished with 32 shots and 20 of those were on goal to set season highs for both. Chicago State (0-17, 0-6) struggled to get its offense goin and finished with two shots and no shots on goal.

GCU will travel to Orem, Utah, on Saturday for a crucial matchup against third-place Utah Valley (9-7-1, 4-2) at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time).