Another Summit League victory for the men’s soccer squad, a recapture of the Gold Pan for the men’s hockey team and a split of two road matches for the women’s volleyball squad.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver Athletics.
Men’s Soccer
DU men’s soccer capped off their regular season on a high note and finished conference play without dropping a single match. They defeated Kansas City 2-0 Saturday night, while also celebrating their senior class.
Redshirt freshman forward Bryce Willoughby scored the first goal in the contest at the 43-minute mark. Willoughby buried his third game-winning goal of the season after burying a header off the fingertips of the Roos goalkeeper.
Graduate student midfielder Aidan O’Toole made his 84th appearance in the contest which is now the most ever in program history. O’Toole added his fifth career goal at the 71-minute mark in the contest after he picked up a loose ball in the box and dropped a sneaky shot past the goalkeeper.
Sophomore goalkeeper Isaac Nehme added another shutout to his game streak. Nehme now sits third in program history in shutouts in just his second season with the program. Nehme made two saves in Saturday afternoon’s contest.
After concluding the regular season, Denver will battle against Kansas City again in the semifinal matchup of the Summit League tournament. They will travel to the neutral site of Oral Roberts University and face the Roos Thursday afternoon. The game is available to stream on the Summit League Network and kickoff starts at 2 p.m.
Men’s Hockey
The No. 2 men’s hockey team swept Colorado College this past weekend and recaptured the Gold Pan for the fifth straight season. They defeated the Tigers 6-1 in Friday night’s matchup and 5-1 in Saturday’s contest.
In front of a record setting crowd at Magness Arena on Friday night, DU dominated CC for the majority of the contest. The Tigers were the only team to score in the first period and made DU’s offense look stagnant.
Intermission proved to be deadly for CC though as DU came flying out of the gates to start the second period. Junior defenseman Shai Buium got on the board first for DU five minutes into the period and junior forward Tristan Broz followed that up with his third goal of the season less than three minutes later. Junior forward Carter King rounded out the scoring in the period and buried a shorthanded goal around the halfway mark of the period.
Junior forward Jack Devine tucked two goals away in the third period to add onto his team high total of eight goals on the season. His second goal was a well set up attempt by fellow linemate junior forward Massimo Rizzo, who dropped it back to Devine in the slot before Devine shot a bullet top-shelf. Rizzo and Devine have combined for 13 goals and 20 assists in eight games this season, the most out of any duo in the country.
Freshman goaltender Freddie Halyk started in both games on the weekend after senior starting goaltender Matt Davis was not available in the lineup for the weekend series. Halyk stopped 19 shots on 20 attempts in Friday’s game and 20 shots on 21 attempts in Saturday’s game.
Saturday’s contest was another showcase of the recent dominance DU has had over their archrival. DU went into Saturday’s game having never lost in Ed Robson Arena and continued that trend with a 5-1 victory.
Freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger tallied his third goal of the season less than two minutes into the first period. Buckberger is leading all Denver defenseman in goals with three and is only one point behind junior defenseman Sean Behrens.
Two Denver forwards picked up their first career goals in the contest. Freshman forward Miko Matikka knocked in the eventual game-winning goal in the second period while freshman forward Sam Harris followed up Matikka’s first with his own goal less than two minutes later.
DU will travel to Arizona State to take on their future NCHC opponent this upcoming weekend. Puck drop for game one of the series is at 7 p.m. Friday night and game two is Saturday evening at 5 p.m.
Women’s Volleyball
Denver women’s volleyball hit the road this past week and split their two conference matches. They swept Oral Roberts Thursday afternoon and fell in five sets to Kansas City Saturday afternoon.
In Thursday’s sweeping victory, DU dominated the last two sets. They won by four points in the first set but edged the Golden Eagles by nine in the next two sets. The Crimson and Gold never lost their lead during the last two sets.
Sophomore outside hitter Ava Reynolds had one of her best matches of the season, picking up a team high 11 kills and recording a block as well. Graduate outside hitter Cassie Davis recorded a season high five aces in the contest and also added seven kills as well.
Saturday’s contest was a much different battle in comparison to Thursday’s. Denver won the first set by eight points but dropped the second and third sets by slim margins. They battled back to force a fifth set but fell 14-16 in the final set.
Davis had her best game of the season and recorded a whopping 29 kills in the contest. Davis also added three aces and a block to her eye-popping statline. Redshirt freshman setter Briley Decker also outdid her season high in assists in the contest and registered 64 assists in the loss.
Two more regular season games remain for the Crimson and Gold. They will take on the top ranked Summit League opponent Omaha at home Wednesday afternoon. The game begins at 6 p.m. in Hamilton Gymnasium.
Men’s and Women’s Tennis
Junior Daniel Sancho Arbizu of the men’s team and junior Andrea Burguete Beltran and graduate student Britt Pursell of the women’s team were all at the ITA National Championships this past weekend in San Diego, Calif.
Sancho Arbizu participated in the singles side of the men’s tournament and played in two contests. In the round of 32 stage of the tournament, he fell to Jack Anthrop of the Ohio State University in straight sets. Sancho Arbizu was then given a consolation matchup after he was eliminated against Columbia University’s Michael Zheng and fell in three sets.
Pursell and Beltran competed in the doubles side of the women’s tournament and also could not find success in their two matchups they played. In their round of 32 matchup on Wednesday, the two Denver players could not get a set victory and fell to Northwestern’s double team in straight sets. They then played in a consolation matchup and also fell in straight sets to Vanderbilt’s Anessa Lee and Celia-Belle Mohr.
Both Denver tennis squads have one final Fall tournament left. The men’s team will travel to California and compete in the LMU Invitational this weekend while the women’s team will stay in Denver and host the Denver Invite at Denver Tennis Park.
