Photo by: Ryan Lumpkin
Hockey
The Pioneers finished their season after making an appearance in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five and in the NCAA tournament.
Denver defeated Wisconsin in a three-game series at home March 9-11. Despite losing the first contest 1-0, the Pioneers won 3-1 and 3-2 on the following nights with goals from senior forward Nate Dewhurst, senior forward Luke Salazar, sophomore forward Nick Shore and freshman forward Ty Loney.
The victory propelled the team to St. Paul, Minn., to compete in the WCHA Final Five tournament. On March 15, the Pioneers topped Michigan Tech 3-2 in overtime to advance to the semifinals on goals from sophomore forward Jason Zucker, Nick Shore and Loney. On March 16, they won again in double overtime 4-3 against Minnesota-Duluth to advance to the WCHA championship with goals from freshman Zac Larraza, the first of his career, Zucker, junior forward Shawn Ostrow and redshirt senior forward and co-captain Dustin Jackson. Sophomore goalie Sam Brittain also set a school record, stopping 67 shots in the game. The Pioneers were blanked on March 17 by North Dakota 4-0 with a defense that dwindled to only three defensemen.
After the championship loss, Denver traveled to Green Bay, Wisc., on March 23, where they lost the championship game 2-1 to Ferris State. Junior forward and co-captain Drew Shore netted the Pioneers’ lone goal in the game, but with a team riddled with injuries, including sophomore forward Beau Bennet and sophomore defenseman David Makowski, the Pioneers couldn’t secure the win to continue their season.
Men’s Basketball
Despite being one of just 54 teams at the Division I level to win at least 22 games this season, the DU men’s basketball program fell short of reaching the postseason, failing to earn the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as well as an at-large bid to the National Invitational Tournament.
DU’s RPI (Rating Percentage Index) was 92, following its 67-63 loss in the SBC tournament’s semifinals to Western Kentucky in early March, which ultimately was too low to earn recognition from the NIT committee. The Pioneers’ chances of making the NIT were hindered by SBC-regular season champion Middle Tennessee taking the conference’s automatic bid to the tournament.
In the team’s final game, Denver had multiple chances to tie the contest in the final seconds, but were ultimately unable as senior guard Brian Stafford’s three-point attempt fell short and Royce O’Neale’s offensive rebound and put-back went for naught.
The Pioneers shot a mediocre 45 percent from the field in the contest and failed to build onto the lead when they had it in the second half.
The loss marks the end of Stafford’s much-accomplished career, as he leaves the Pioneers as the program’s all-time leader in games played and 3rd all-time in scoring.
In addition, the team will see seniors Rob Lewis, Travis Hallam, Justin Coughlin, Tyler Thalkin and Alex Pickert depart this offseason.
SBC Defensive Player of the Year Chris Udofia will return in the fall for his junior season as the Pioneers enter their first season in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Pioneers postseason push was hindered by the back injury suffered by junior Chase Hallam.
While the program finished short of its postseason expectations for the 2011-2012 season, the Pioneers did enjoy the best year in program history, recording a program-best 22 wins as well as finishing in the top 10 in the nation in both field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
Women’s Basketball
After defeating North Texas 55-36 to end the regular season, and clinching a first-round bye in the 2012 SBC Tournament, the No. 2-seeded Pioneers fell 67-59 to No. 3-seeded Florida International in the SBC quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark., on March 4.
Denver, who finished the season 19-12, lost in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season. The team was unable to top the Panthers, despite 21 points from senior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch’s and the return of sophomore guard Quincey Noonan, who had missed 15 of the last 17 games due to injury. Noonan recorded a career-high 18 points in her first appearance since mid-January, shooting 7-of-9 from the field.
Florida International was led by sophomore guard Jerica Coley, who received the SBC Player of the Year award after her regular-season performance and recorded 18 points during the game.
Despite the disappointing loss, the Pioneers ended the season on a positve note in terms of both team and individual honors. In addition to numerous Pioneer athletes being named to the academic honor roll in Hot Springs, Denver received the team GPA award for having the highest cumulative GPA in the SBC.
Recognizing some of the individual talent on the roster, Murdoch and junior guard Emiko Smith were each honored by both the SBC and College Sports Madness after their accomplishments this season.
Murdoch, who led the team in scoring (16.4) and field-goal percentage (53.4) during the regular season, was named to the All-SBC First Team by SBC Coaches and College Sports Madness. Smith was named to the All-SBC Second Team and the All-SBC Fourth Team by College Sports Madness after leading the SBC in both assists (6.5) and assists-to-turnover ratio (1.6).
Skiing
The Pioneers finished 6th at the NCAA Championships that took place in Bohart Ranch, Mont., March 7-10.
Freshman Espen Lysdahl claimed the individual title in the men’s slalom on March 10, earning first team All-American honors. His win in the slalom makes him the first Pioneer men’s slalom individual champion since John Buchar in 2008.
“Our alpine skiers closed out the championship with style,” said alpine head coach Andy LeRoy. “Espen took advantage of drawing bib number one and built a strong margin over the field in his first run. Sterling skied her heart out with a gutsy performance to claim first team All-American honors. I could not be more proud of the efforts our team put in this week and this year.”
Denver has recorded at least one alpine or Nordic individual champion during the past nine seasons. The last year Denver was held off the top of a podium was in 2003.
Sophomore Sterling Grant, the defending champion in women’s slalom, finished shy of the final podium in 4th place, but earned her second-consecutive slalom first team All-American honors.
Denver finished with 505.5 points in the championship. Vermont (832) won its sixth NCAA title and first since 1994.
