There’s no better way to finish a Senior Night than to clinch a share of the Summit League regular season title. This share of the regular season title is the program’s second conference regular-season title and Denver’s third trophy overall in the Summit League. The program’s last trophy came last year when Denver beat North Dakota State to win the 2017 Summit League Tournament.
“I thought we showed good respect for the opponent, understanding the situation that both teams were in today, needing to win to accomplish their respective goals. At the beginning of the game, these games are always a bit emotional, and it took us a little bit to get going. We got the third goal which helped us be able to relax a little at the end,” Head Coach Jeff Hooker said following the match. “It was a really nice way to send off the seniors in their home career, making sure they finished their senior year unbeaten at home. As a whole, I thought we accepted the challenge today, knowing the conference championship was on the line. We’ll take the win, celebrate it tonight at our banquet and then quickly shift our attention to Thursday.”
Senior Leah Swander (Grand Junction, Colo.) scored in the 14th minute of the first half after junior Hannah Adler (Oak Park, Calif.) crossed the ball to freshman Esther Malers (Fort Collins, Colo.) who played the ball to Swander. Swander headed the ball back to the left of the Oral Roberts goalie and into the back of the net. Alder picked up her sixth assist of the season, while Malers secured her second assist.
Denver scored again in the 29th minute after freshman Samantha Feller (Grand Junction, Colo.) scored her eighth goal of the season. She scored with a header off a corner kick from freshman Natalie Beckman (Denver, Colo.). Beckman’s assist was her ninth of the season, a team-high.
Adler scored at 73:14 to make it 3-0, Denver, with assists from freshman Devan McSwain (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) and Feller. Beckman crossed the ball to Feller, who then passed it to McSwain. McSwain chested the ball to Adler, who scored her 19th goal of her Denver career.
Denver outshot Oral Roberts 21-2, requiring junior goalkeeper Brittany Wilson (Littleton, Colo.) to make only one save in her eighth shut-out of the year and her 15th of her Pioneer career.
Following the match, the Pioneers honored seniors Behnken, Swander and student manager Courtney Coffey (Grand Junction, Colo.).
Behnken was named to the 2015 Summit league All-Freshman Team and helped anchor a strong Denver defense that consistently allowed the lowest goals in league play in 2016 and 2017. Swander played in 20 of Denver’s 21 matches in 2017. She scored in the NCAA Tournament First Round at Colorado to open up the scoring against CU Boulder.
Coffey was declared medically ineligible to play for Denver and spent the 2018 season serving as the student manager. She has used the skills she learned in school and brought them to the field in evaluating statistics for the Pioneers.
Denver is seeded No. 2 in the Summit League Tournament that begins on Thursday in North Dakota. Denver will first face off against North Dakota State, a rematch of the 2017 Summit League Final, on Thursday at 5 p.m., MST. The Summit League Final is planned to take place on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 11 a.m., MST.
