Two wins for the men’s soccer team, a doubles tournament title for the women’s tennis squad, and a dual meet sweep for the swim and dive squad.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer squad picked up two more wins this past week and kept their conference undefeated record. They defeated Omaha, 1-0 Wednesday night and destroyed St. Thomas, 5-0 Saturday night.
Wednesday’s home matchup was a crucial one for the Summit League standings. DU’s 1-0 win over Omaha lifted them to the top of the Summit League standings ahead of Oral Roberts.
Sophomore midfielder Holger Olsson scored his second game winning goal this season in the contest. With just two minutes left in the first half, Denver pinpointed a corner kick into the box where Olsson cleaned up a rebound off the post and delivered it into the back of the cage. Senior defender Aaron Kronenberg earned his first career assist on Olsson’s goal.
Sophomore goalkeeper Isaac Nehme recorded his eighth shutout of the season and his third game in a row without giving up a goal. Nehme kept all six of Omaha’s shots on goal out of the back of net and it is the second time in three games that Nehme has done so.
The offensive production quadrupled from Wednesday’s match to Saturday’s match, and DU picked up their biggest win of the season.
Olsson opened up the scoring four minutes into the contest and assisted on graduate midfielder Aidan O’Toole’s goal four minutes later. An own goal at the twelve minute mark lifted DU to an early 3-0 lead.
Redshirt freshman Kyle McGowan and sophomore defender Dylan Akau each scored their first career collegiate goal in the contest. McGowan faked a shot twice before blasting a shot into the back of the net while Akau capitalized on a breakaway and slipped the ball past the goalkeeper’s five-hole just across the goal line.
Nehme picked up his fourth straight game with a shutout and did not have to make a save during the 5-0 victory.
Two more games remain in the regular season for Denver. They will travel to Oklahoma to take on Oral Roberts Saturday night, whom Denver tied with back on Sept. 30th.
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer squad split their two conference games with a tie and a loss. The women’s squad fell for the first time in six games to North Dakota State Thursday night and forced a draw with North Dakota Sunday afternoon.
Denver could not get the offense going in Thursday’s contest and the team did not put up a tally on the scoresheet for the first time since Oct 1. Denver was also rarely outshot in the contest and the Bison put two more shots on goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Molly Wissman finished with four saves in the contest, the most she has had in a Summit League matchup this season. Wissman also saved a penalty kick at the 66 minute mark in the contest.
Sunday afternoon’s contest on the road in Fargo, North Dakota was a different tale regarding offensive production.
Freshman forward Liv Moritz opened up the scoring less than 10 minutes into the contest. Moritz and graduate midfielder Kaityln Glover now sit together at the top for the lead for most goals this season with seven.
North Dakota’s Amelia Loeffler had a tremendous game for the Fighting Sioux and buried two first half goals to give the Fighting Sioux lots of momentum heading into the final stage of the first half. But a corner kick off of a UND defender forced an own goal that lessened the edge for North Dakota heading into the second half.
Glover scored her seventh of the season just three minutes into the second half to give Denver a one-goal lead. DU led for almost the entirety of the half until Loeffler captured her hat trick with 41 seconds left to force Denver’s second conference draw this season.
With the draw, DU women’s soccer was crowned Summit League regular season champions alongside South Dakota State. They will go into the Summit League tournament as the No.1 seed and will await their home semi finals matchup opponent.
Women’s Tennis
The women’s tennis squad participated in the ITA Mountain Regional Championships this past weekend in Colorado Springs.
The main singles draw was not as friendly to Denver as the main doubles draw was. Graduate student Britt Pursell and junior Andrea Burguete Beltran advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles tournament, the farthest advance from the Denver squad. They each lost their quarterfinals matchup in three sets.
The two older players combined to be more successful in the main doubles draw. Pursell and Beltran won the main doubles draw after Utah State’s doubles had to pull out of the finals. The seventh seeded duo won each of their first matches in straight sets, including a two-set win in the semifinals matchup.
Pursell and Beltran have clinched a berth in the doubles side at the ITA Fall National Championships. The two will travel to San Diego, California and will compete Nov. 1-5.
Women’s Volleyball
The women’s volleyball squad split their conference matchups this past week and now sit at 7-3 in Summit League action. They earned a five-set victory over North Dakota Thursday night and were swept by North Dakota State Saturday night.
In Thursday’s 3-2 victory, DU split the first two sets with the Fighting Hawks before playing an unbelievable third set that ended 36-38 in favor of UND. 11 lead changes highlighted one of the longest sets of the season for Denver.
Denver did not go down easy though and captured the next two sets to go on and earn the victory. They won the fourth set by 13 points and the fifth set by five.
Graduate outside hitter Cassie Davis had a career day and finished with 22 kills, beating out her previous career high of 20. Davis also finished with six blocks and an ace in the contest.
Saturday’s contest was not the ending to the two-game road trip the team was wanting, and the team lost all three sets against the Bison.
Senior libero Gianna Bartalo led the way with 13 digs for Denver and also recorded a team-high three aces in the contest. Davis had another solid contest, recording a double-double of 12 kills and 12 digs.
The regular season is almost coming to an end for Denver and six Summit League matchups remain. The women’s volleyball squad’s next two contests will be at home starting on Thursday night when Denver looks to defeat St.Thomas for the second time this season.
Men’s Hockey
In two of the toughest tests the team will see all season, the No. 2 ranked DU hockey team split their two out-of-conference games this past weekend in Massachusetts. They were defeated by No. 10/12 Providence, 3-4 Friday night and used a comeback to earn a victory over No. 3 Boston College Saturday night.
In Friday’s top-ten contest, penalties and special teams was the overall theme of the contest. Denver was given a man advantage four minutes into the game and capitalized off a bomb from junior defenseman Shai Buium. Buium took a cross feed from his brother, freshman defenseman Zeev Buium and blasted a slapshot off the iron and in.
This was the only power play goal for DU, and they went 1/9 on the PP.
Providence tied the game late in the first period, but DU came swinging out of the intermission. Junior forward Jack Devine cleaned up a loose puck in the slot and used a backhand to put it past the Friar goaltender. Devine continued his three-game scoring streak to open up the season with the goal.
Providence went on to score three unanswered goals that would prove to be detrimental to Denver. Junior forward Massimo Rizzo scored a consolation goal with less than four minutes left in the third period, but the goal was not a catalyst for a comeback.
The team then traveled north to Boston to take on the Golden Eagles in a battle of two of the top three teams in the country.
BC scored late in the first period and would hold the lead until Rizzo tucked his second of the weekend in the back of the net, six minutes into the second period. Rizzo cleaned up his rebound that was deflected off a Golden Eagle defenseman. BC would follow up Rizzo’s goal with a nice wrist shot to take a 2-1 lead heading into the final period.
The comeback surge started with senior forward Connor Caponi who battled in front of the net to knock a loose puck past the goaltender. Sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz threw out a centering feed from behind the net and Caponi used his strength to slither away his first of the season.
The goal of the weekend belonged to junior forward Tristan Broz, who gave DU their first lead of the game halfway through the period. Broz blasted a one-timer short side, top-shelf, on a power play after he took a nice set up feed from Zeev Buium.
BC star Will Smith scored his second of the game and lifted BC back to a 3-3 tie with DU three minutes later, but Smith’s solid game was spoiled by junior forward Carter King’s game winning goal. King banged away a rebound after a scramble in front of the net on the power play. This was King’s first game winner of the season and fourth in his three-year career with DU.
DU hockey finally comes home to Magness Arena for their first home games of the season. Augustana University is the opponent for Friday night’s contest while Air Force is the opponent for Saturday’s. Puck drop starts at 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Swim and Dive
Both swim and dive squads swept their dual meets Friday night against Air Force. Denver men’s defeated the Falcons, 175-68 while the Denver women’s won, 168-75.
Denver won almost every race and swept each podium for diving en route to the big victories.
DU women’s swim and dive has one more meet before an almost month-long break from competitions. They will travel up to Fort Collins to take on CSU in a dual on Friday. DU men’s swim and dive will return to action alongside the women’s side at the BIG AL Invite hosted by Princeton University on Nov 30.
Women’s Golf
DU women’s golf was in Palo Alto, California this past weekend participating in the Stanford Intercollegiate tournament. The team finished 17 out of 19 fielding teams.
Individually, junior Clara Gestsdottir placed the highest amongst DU finishing tied for 22nd place. She recorded an eagle in the third round and finished one over par on the weekend. Graduate student Anna Zanusso was the second-best finisher for DU, finishing tied for 65th place with a 10 over par score.
Fall golf is over the women’s squad, and their next scheduled tournament is not until February of 2024.
