After finishing second in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament over the weekend, the Pioneer women’s soccer team received its first ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament during the selection show on Monday afternoon.
Denver will host Colorado College (14-3-5) at 12 p.m. on Saturday in a rematch of its 2012 season opener, in which the Pioneers posted one of their only two losses this season, falling 1-0 to the Tigers on Aug. 17.
“Colorado College has had a great season,” said head coach Jeff Hooker. “It’ll be a tough matchup, but I’m looking forward to a great crowd. It’ll be two teams that will come out to play, and play an attractive style of soccer.”
The selection marks Denver’s eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and the first home NCAA Tournament match for the women’s soccer program in its 28-year history.
The Pioneers received the at-large bid after their performance at the WAC tournament in Logan, Utah, and will enter the tournament with a 26-5-2 NCAA Division I conference tournament record.
After a decisive 2-0 shutout of No. 3 seed Texas State in the WAC semifinals on Friday afternoon, the Pioneer women’s soccer team, ranked No. 19 in the nation, advanced to the WAC final, where they fell 1-0 to No. 1 seed and defending WAC champions Utah State on Sunday afternoon.
“We are very proud of the women’s soccer team for the wonderful accomplishment of being selected to the NCAA Tournament,” said Peg Bradley-Doppes, DU’s vice chancellor for athletics, recreation and Ritchie Center operations. “This team worked so hard to achieve the goals they set for themselves, and competing in postseason play was at the top of the list. Today’s announcement is made even more special because Pioneer fans will get to see the team host its first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament game on CIBER Field at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.”
The Pioneers entered the WAC tournament as the No. 2 seed after receiving a number of awards at the WAC Postseason Banquet last Wednesday, where Hooker was named the WAC coach of the year, and junior forward Kristen Hamilton was named the conference player of the year for the second year in a row.
“I was blown away, to be honest,” said Hooker of his eighth coach of the year award. “There are a lot of quality programs and good coaches in this conference that schedule some good competition. I was very humbled to receive that award, which was voted on by the coaches.”
Hamilton was also named to the All-WAC first team, along with senior forward Kaitlin Bast, junior midfielder Nicholette DiGiacomo, junior defender Jessy Battelli and sophomore defender Sam Harder.
Seniors goalkeeper Lara Campbell and midfielder Katy Van Lieshout were also named to the All-WAC second team.
“I think it’s outstanding for the conference to recognize those individuals,” said Hooker. “We set a lot of goals for the regular season and accomplished a lot of them. The individual awards that go along with that are a testament to this team’s success this year.”
Top dog showdown in Utah
The WAC tournament was hosted by Utah State at the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field, where both Utah State and Denver earned first-round byes as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. After Texas State defeated No. 6 seed Idaho in a 2-1 overtime quarterfinals victory on Thursday, the Bobcats advanced to Friday’s contest with the Pioneers.
Denver, now 15-2-4 overall, began both halves by scoring within the first five minutes, off goals from Bast and senior forward Katie Vaughn. Friday marked the fifth consecutive contest in which Bast has scored, and she is now tied with Lleane Grimditch (2003-2006) for third in school history with 99 points.
“It was two similar halves in the sense that we got two quick goals,” said Hooker. “After the first half goal, we took our foot off the gas a little bit and didn’t keep as much possession as we would have liked. We got on them a little bit at halftime, and I thought we did a much better job in the second half. The nice thing was, we got 21 players into the game and kept the sharpness up of those who haven’t played in a game in a while.”
Hamilton and DiGiacomo recorded the assists for the Pioneers, and Campbell played all 90 minutes in goal and recorded two saves for Denver.
“It was a good balanced day today,” said Hooker after Friday’s game. “We would have liked to get a third goal, but we feel pretty happy about being in the final. You’ve got to get in the final to win the final, and we’re in the final. We’re looking forward to Sunday.”
With the victory, Denver extended its unbeaten streak to 19 games, tying the longest stretch in school history, which went across the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
On Sunday, the Pioneers battled Utah State for the second time this season in the WAC tournament final. Both teams entered the contest with identical 6-0-2 conference records, having tied each other 0-0 on Sept. 30 at CIBER Field. The Aggies also entered the game coming off a 2-1 victory over No. 5 seed Seattle on Friday.
Utah State opened the scoring in the fourth minute off an own goal after a cross from Aggies’ junior midfielder Kendra Pemberton took an unlucky bounce off Pioneer defender Cassidy Larson’s sliding foot and into the Denver goal.
“We spotted them one early, but I’m real proud of the team that we didn’t give up today,” said Hooker. “We made some adjustments; everything seemed to be working and going our way, but it was just one of those games. Soccer is a cruel game sometimes, and today was the result of that. I thought that we did everything right, we just couldn’t get the ball to go in.”
The Pioneers maintained possession for a majority of the contest and held a 14-12 advantage in shots, but the team was unable to find the back of the net. Both Hamilton and Bast took shots from inside the penalty area, but they were blocked and saved by the goalkeeper, respectively.
“Really disappointing in the end, but to finish the regular season with only two losses, you’ve got to be proud of that,” said Hooker.
