Two dominant performances from men’s ice hockey and the swim and dive squad, and pairs of wins for the women’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Women’s Soccer
Women’s soccer picked up two conference wins this past week against South Dakota State and South Dakota. They defeated the Jackrabbits Thursday night, 4-2, and defeated the Coyotes Sunday afternoon on Senior Day, 3-1.
Four different goal scorers and three second-half goals highlighted Thursday’s home contest. SDSU got on the board first early in the contest, but freshman midfielder Michaela McGowan snuck a ball between a defender’s legs and into the back of the net to equalize the match.
The momentum stuck with DU coming out of halftime as just 55 seconds into the second half freshman forward Liv Moritz finished a nice through ball from graduate midfielder Kaitlyn Glover into the back of the cage.
SDSU tied the game at the 76-minute mark, but exactly five minutes later senior forward McKenna Dannenhauer recaptured the lead for DU and scored her second career game-winning goal. Junior midfielder Ella Frost widened the lead to two with a consolation goal at the 85-minute mark to give DU a 4-2 victory.
Sunday’s game was a celebration of the five seniors on the team and the team did so in winning fashion.
Junior midfielder Samantha Dreiling scored her second goal of the season after she cut through two SD defenders just eight minutes into the contest. Dreiling also finished with an assist, which is her third of the season.
Glover scored the eventual game-winner just 10 minutes later, which is now her 11th in her career and tied for fifth most in program history. Glover would also assist on the consolation goal by junior midfielder Riley Baker in the second half. DU would go on to win 3-1.
The women’s squad remains at home this week with their only contest coming on Thursday night against Kansas City. Kickoff starts at 7 p.m. and the game is also available to stream on the Summit League Network.
Men’s Soccer
In a rematch from last year’s Summit League Championship game, the Denver men’s soccer team went into Kansas City Saturday night and defeated the Roos 1-0.
Sophomore goalkeeper Isaac Nehme had one of his best games in a Crimson and Gold uniform in the contest and stopped six Kansas City shots en route to his sixth shutout of the season. In the dying embers of the second half, the Roos set up a perfect chance in the box to tie the game, but Nehme made a one-hand save towards the top of the middle of the net to ruin the opportunity.
Junior midfielder Sam Bassett scored his seventh goal of the season early in the contest via a penalty kick. Bassett is now 4 for 4 on PK attempts in his DU career.
After remaining undefeated in conference play, DU will continue Summit League action with another road contest against Western Illinois on Saturday. Kickoff starts at 12 p.m. and is available to stream on the Summit League Network.
Men’s Ice Hockey
The No. 4 men’s hockey season is officially underway and the team traveled to Alaska to sweep Alaska-Fairbanks in their weekend series.
Saturday’s contest ended in a 7-3 victory for DU. First career goals from sophomore defenseman Kent Anderson and freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger highlighted the offensive frenzy from the Crimson and Gold.
After allowing the first goal in the contest, Anderson scored two of the four DU unanswered goals to lift them to their victory. Junior forward Jack Devine also led the way offensively and finished with a team-high four points in the game.
Junior goaltender Matt Davis made his first career opening night start and stopped 20 of 23 shots he faced.
Sunday’s contest was a continuation of offensive dominance, especially from the Denver first line. Devine scored another two goals while junior forward Tristan Broz added his first goal of the season. Their linemate, junior forward Massimo Rizzo, added four assists to his three from the previous night, which was a team-high on the weekend.
Davis had a much better second game and recorded 27 saves on 29 shots faced in the 5-2 victory.
DU Hockey will stay on the road and will travel to the East Coast to face two Massachusetts-based programs this weekend. They will face Providence University Friday night at and Boston College the night after. Puck drop starts at 5 p.m. MST and both games are available to stream on ESPN+.
Swim and Dive
The swim and dive team also kicked off their season with success at their home meet on Saturday. The men’s team defeated Colorado Mesa by 36 points while the women’s team defeated CMU and University of Northern Colorado by 48 points.
Out of the 22 events in the meet, Denver finished 1st in 14 en route to their sweep.
Both squads will go their separate ways this weekend and compete in different meets. The men’s squad will be in Riverside, California competing against Grand Canyon, Seattle and California Baptist in a meet on Friday and Saturday. The women’s squad will be in Houston, Texas competing against Rice and Houston on Friday and Saturday as well.
Men’s Golf
The men’s golf squad participated in the Mark Simpson Invitational on Monday and Tuesday in Erie and finished 13th out of 17 teams.
Freshman Zander Grant had a great first two rounds and finished round two in the top ten, but fell 10 spots in the third round to tie for 17th place. Graduate student Brady Arnett was the second-best finisher for DU, tying for 41st place in his first tournament of the season.
Denver’s next tournament is a quick turnaround and the team will travel to Kansas to compete in the Grier Jones Shocker Invitational on Monday, Oct. 9. The Wichita State University hosted tournament will conclude on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Women’s Golf
After leading the first two rounds, the DU women’s golf squad placed second out of 14 fielding teams at the Ron Moore Invitational on Sunday. California University came out on top at the Denver-hosted tournament in Highlands Ranch.
Individually, three Crimson and Gold golfers finished in the top ten. Graduate student Anna Zanusso continued her strong fall season with a second-place finish, only one stroke behind the champion of the tournament. Senior Katarina Drocarova finished tied for seventh with a six-under final score and junior Emma Bryant was a stroke behind her in tied for ninth place.
The next tournament for DU women’s golf is in Palo Alto, California and the team will participate in the Stanford Intercollegiate on Oct. 20.
Men’s Tennis
The men’s tennis team was not in action this week but senior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta participated in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Herrero Cuesta put up a valiant effort but ultimately fell in the round of 64 matchup against the No. 5 ranked singles player in the country in straight sets. He also played in a consolation matchup on Thursday and fell in straight sets to the No. 35 player in the country.
The team will continue fall action with a home meet at the Denver Hidden Duals on Oct. 27-29.
Women’s Volleyball
Two more conference games gave the Denver women’s volleyball team two more wins this past week. They improved to 6-8 on the season via a four-set win against St Thomas Thursday night, and a grueling five-set win against Kansas City Saturday afternoon.
After dominating the first two sets in Thursday’s contest, DU let the Tommies take the third set and had to earn the fourth set victory. Graduate middle blocker Cadi Boyer led the way with 13 kills and five blocks in the contest. Graduate opposite hitter Mackenzie Fidelak and graduate outside hitter Cassie Davis followed Boyer with 12 kills each.
DU had four more aces and twelve fewer errors than St. Thomas in the victory.
Saturday’s home contest was a much different stage. Kansas City came into the contest in the top rank of the Summit League standings and had not dropped a conference contest before Saturday.
The Roos took the first set, 25-22, but Denver came fighting back into a dominant second set win. Both teams also split the third and fourth set in close fashion before Denver took the fifth tiebreaker set, 15-12.
Davis had a season-high 20 kills in the victory while Fidelak also trumped her season high with 14 kills.
After jumping up to tied for first place in the Summit League standings and improving to 5-1 in conference play, the squad will have their toughest test yet against the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Both teams will battle for the top spot in the Summit League, Wednesday night, in Omaha.
