Men’s Basketball- Finished an injury-plagued season at 4-25 (3-15 SBC) for their worst record since becoming a NCAA Division I team eight years ago. Hope does seem to be around the corner for the Pioneers, however, as the DU Athletic Department recently announced the hiring of former Princeton and Air Force Academy head coach Joe Scott as the new leader of the Pioneer men.
Women’s Basketball- In basketball, it is a great accomplishment for a team to reach 20 wins in a season. The Pioneer women did just that, completing the season with a 20-11 record, 12-6 in the SBC. Finishing fourth overall in the SBC and second in the SBC West, the Pioneers earned a home playoff game, which they won decidedly. Leading the way for the Pioneers all season was senior Tyesha Lowery, who set a school record with 89 steals and earned Second Team All-SBC.
Men’s Golf- The Pioneers had arguably one of the best seasons of any men’s team at DU. The Pioneers finished the season fourth at the Sun Belt Conference Championships and qualified for the NCAA Regional Tournament, in which they finished in 21st place. Sophomore Jeff Koprovetz had an outstanding season for the Pioneers, finishing with a team-leading 71.97 scoring average. This year marked the last season for senior Charlie Soule, who finished his career in second place all-time on the Pioneer career scoring average list.
Women’s Golf- The Pioneer women’s golf team is having arguably the best season of any DU sports team. After winning all four tournaments, they played in in the fall, the Pioneers kept it going this spring by winning the SBC Championship for the fourth straight year and making it through the NCAA West Regional Tournament and on to Nationals. The Pioneers are led by freshman Stephanie Sherlock and senior Emily Hoeper. Sherlock is having one of the best rookie seasons in DU history, having earned medalist honors in an astonishing three events while compiling a stingy 72.57 stroke average. Hoeper, one of the best players in the program’s history, has one medalist honor to her credit this season and finished second to Sherlock in the SBC Championships. The Pioneers are playing this week for the national title.
Gymnastics- The Pioneer women experienced one of their greatest seasons in school history after finishing tenth in the NCAA Championships. After compiling eight wins this season, the Pioneers will return ten players from their roster for next season, including sophomore Jessica Lopez. Lopez became DU’s first three-time All-American after her impressive showing at Nationals.
Hockey- Though it may seem as a disappointment that the Pioneers were left out of the 16-team NCAA tournament field for the second consecutive season, DU had yet another impressive season playing in the heavily talented Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Pioneers finished the season with a 21-15-4 (13-11-3 WCHA) record for fourth place in the conference. Bright spots on the Pioneer season were redshirt freshman Brock Trotter returning from injury to lead the team in scoring with 40 points, junior Ryan Dingle scoring a team-leading 22 goals and senior Glenn Fisher having another outstanding year in the net.
Men’s Lacrosse- A disappointing season for the Pioneers after having a breakthrough year a season ago. The Pioneers finished 9-7 overall and 3-2 in the Great Western Lacrosse League. Normally dominant at home in past seasons, the Pioneers only won four out of eight home games. The Pioneers did have three players named to the All-GWLL team: sophomore attack Joey Murray and defensemen senior David Hahn and junior Rory Shephard.
Women’s Lacrosse- After dominating the entire season, the Pioneer women’s lacrosse team was upset in the MPSF championship game, only needing one more win to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The Pioneers finished the season with an impressive 16-3 record and had both the MPSF Player of the Year in senior Kristie Leggio and MPSF Newcomer of the Year in freshman Ali Flury. This season, Leggio, who was last season’s POY as well, registered 111 points off 67 goals and 34 assists. She finished her career holding nearly every single-season scoring record and being third on DU’s all-time points list despite only being a Pioneer for two seasons.
Skiing- Once again, the Pioneers proved why they are one of the elite ski programs in the country by finishing second at the NCAA Championships. DU won three team events on the season and never finished worse than third. After their impressive NCAA appearance, seven Pioneers were named first team All-Americans, one of which was alpine skier Adam Cole, who became the first Pioneer to ever win the national title in both the slalom and giant slalom. The other six All-Americans were Claire Abbe, Annelise Baily, John Buchar, Francesco Ghedina, Rene Reisshauer and Jenny Tank.
Men’s soccer- The Pioneer men kept up with their female counterpart in the fall, finishing with a dominating 11-5-2 record, 7-2-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. With two games remaining in the season, the Pioneers needed to win just one game to qualify for the NCAA Men’s College Cup, but lost both games to barely miss out on a tournament appearance. This offseason, the Pioneers have experienced some turmoil, as Head Coach and MPSF Coach of the Year Chad Ashton left the team to coach in Major League Soccer. Next season, the Pioneers will be lead by new Head Coach Bobby Muus.
Women’s Soccer- The Pioneers finished 19-3-1 (11-0 SBC) on the season, taking home the SBC regular season and tournament titles. Though both feats were impressive, the highlight of the Pioneer season was earning the school’s first ever Women’s NCAA College Cup by beating Kentucky 2-0 in the first round. Junior Jenna Billingsly, the team’s leading scorer on the season, scored the game winning goal in the game.
Swimming and Diving- Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team put up strong performances this year. The men finished in second place in the SBC Championship, while the women finished third. Both teams also finished first in the NCAA in team GPA. The men finished the year with a collective 3.48 GPA and the women with a 3.58.
Men’s Tennis- Lead by nationally ranked junior Adam Holmstrom, the Pioneers finished off a stellar season by finishing second in the SBC Tournament. Head Coach Danny Westerman received SBC Coach of the Year for leading the Pioneers to a 13-7 record. Holmstrom, ranked No. 17 nationally, qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships that will take place this week. Holmstrom finished the regular season with a 32-5 record which included an impressive 8-1 against ranked opponents.
Women’s Tennis- Ranked No. 46 in country at the end of the season, the DU women’s tennis team narrowly missed out on an NCAA tournament berth. However, the Pioneers did have an impressive season, finishing 14-9 overall and finishing third in the SBC.
Volleyball- After an up-and-down season, the Pioneer women finished 19-12 in the season after falling in the first round of the SBC tournament last fall. Leading the way for the Pioneers all season was senior Lisa Hunter, who ended her career second on the all-time kills list at DU with 1,520. Hunter, along with junior Kim Muller, was named to the All-SBC First Team.
