After wins over Idaho and Seattle this weekend, DU clinched a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season title, sharing the honor with defending WAC champions Utah State (11-2-6, 6-0-2 WAC).
Utah State enters the tournament as the top seed, while Denver earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye and is now riding an 18-game unbeaten streak.
“I’m very impressed with the last few road games, how the team has traveled and had enjoyable trips,” said head coach Jeff Hooker. “I really commend the players for their focus.”
On Friday, the Pioneers (14-1-4, 6-0-2) beat Idaho 5-1 on the road. Idaho (5-13-1, 2-4-1 WAC) scored early in the 18th minute, and the Vandals’ Chelsea Small had the goal, her eighth of the season, on a counter attack with an assist by Katie Baran.
Only nine minutes later, junior midfielder Nicholette DiGiacomo answered with a Pioneer goal from 18 yards out, taking away Idaho’s only lead of the game her fourth goal of the season.
With this momentum, the Pioneers were able to score again within only 90 seconds. This time, DiGiacomo had the assist when she passed to junior center back Jessy Battelli, who buried it in the back of the net and scored her first goal of the season.
After her performance, Battelli was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
For the third consecutive match, senior forward Kaitlin Bast was able to put the ball in the net. She scored from 10 yards out in the 64th minute off a pass from sophomore midfielder Nikki Pappalardo.
“Kaitlin getting the third goal took a little bit of the pressure off, because when it’s 2-1, the game can still go either way with one play,” Hooker said. “Her finish was that of a true center forward.”
Freshman forward Taylor Ivins scored the third goal of her freshman year to bring the Crimson and Gold to a solid 4-1 lead, and junior forward Kristen Hamilton had the assist.
Ivins nearly found the net a second time, but it ricocheted off the side and sophomore midfielder Anna Willis was able to put it in, scoring her second goal of the year.
The Pioneers outshot Idaho 28-4 to collect their 13th win of the season.
To get their share of the WAC regular season title, Denver also had to beat Seattle in Sunday’s contest, also on the road. On Sunday, DU did just that, shutting out the Redhawks 2-0.
“I thought that we did a great job of managing the game today,” said Hooker. “We had a couple of great goals on great runs and some clinical finishing. I thought that we did a good job of keeping the ball in the second half. Even when we brought fresh players off the bench, we kept possession very well. It was a team effort this afternoon. It was nice to accomplish one of our goals from the beginning of the season today, which was to win the conference title.”
Bast scored for the fourth consecutive match with her ninth goal of the season in the 11th minute of the game. Junior defender Cassidy Larson tallied the assist.
The Pioneers held off the Redhawks and were able to score again in the 56th minute as Hamilton was on target with a pass from senior Kalie Vaughn.
Hamilton continues to lead the conference with 31 points and 13 goals.
“Our ability to keep position and score goals has been impressive,” said Hooker. “We need to bring the intensity up a little on defensive in order to close people down and give them less room to play. That’s what we’ll be working on this week.”
After their wins this weekend, the Pioneers head to the conference tournament as a No. 2 seed. After a first-round bye, the team will play the winner of Thursday’s contest between Texas State and Idaho in the conference semifinals on Friday at noon. The conference will be hosted by Utah State at the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field.
