A third-place NCAA championships finish for the skiing squad, an entertaining comeback victory for the men’s basketball team, and a Gold Pan retention from the men’s hockey team.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Skiing
Denver skiing placed third at the NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs this week. They were beaten out by this year’s national champions Colorado and last year’s winners, Utah. Colorado barely edged out Utah by two points.
DU led the way with 14 All-American finishers—eight of those being first-team nods. DU also had the most alpine All-Americans, with nine. If a skier finished in the top five of a race, they were considered first-team All-American, and if they finished sixth through 10th they were considered second-team.
Day one of four days of action was dedicated to the giant slalom races of the Championships. DU found success right away and captured a third-place finish in the men’s side from freshman Christian Soevik. Sophomore Thomas Hoffman finished in 19th place and senior Trey Seymour was a place behind him in 20th.
On the women’s side of the giant slalom, all three of Denver’s racers finished in the top-ten. Freshman Liv Moritz picked up a fifth-place finish while senior Nora Brand and sophomore Sara Rask finished in seventh and ninth respectively.
Day two of four was dedicated to the first Nordic races of the competition, the 7.5K freestyle. Graduate student Florian Knopf captured the highest position for DU in the men’s race with a fifth-place finish. Junior Andreas Kirkeng finished at the end of the top-ten while freshman Krystof Zatloukal rounded out with a 21st-place finish in his first NCAA championships.
In the women’s race, sophomore Selma Andersen picked up a second team All-American nod with a 10th-place finish. Graduate student Henriette Saeterdal Semb finished in 11th and senior Hanna Ray finished 14th.
The next day switched back to alpine races and the fielding teams competed in the slalom races. DU’s second podium finish came from Brand who captured third-place in what will likely be her last race with Denver. Rask finished behind her tied for fourth and Moritz finished off her first NCAA Championships with a 12th-place finish.
Soevik continued his strong showcase with a fourth-place finish in the men’s slalom race and was the only alpine Denver racer to pick up two first team All-American awards. Hoffman improved from the first race to a sixth-place finish and Seymour finished in 22nd.
The final day of action concluded on Saturday and brought back the Nordic racers for the 20K Classical event. The men’s side found success and Knopf picked up the highest finish all weekend by a Denver skier, in second. Zatloukal improved greatly from his first race and finished in 10th while Kirkeng finished 18th.
The women’s side did not find as much success in their final race and Andersen was the highest finisher in 20th place. Saeterdal Semb finished in 25th and Ray finished in 29th.
Men’s Basketball
DU men’s basketball booked their ticket to the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament on Saturday night after a three-point bucket in the final seconds gave DU the 61-60 win over No. 2 Kansas City.
Denver did not start the game off on the right foot and shot the ball at a measly 27.6% shooting percentage, going into halftime with a 12-point deficit.
The second-half comeback catalyst was the nation’s leading scorer, Tommy Bruner, who recorded all 16 of his points in the second half despite battling an ankle injury. The jumpstart in offense helped bring DU back within one point less than halfway through the half and Denver took the lead with 12 minutes to go.
After back-and-forth action for the remaining segment of the half, Denver was down two in their final offensive possession of the game. Senior guard Isaiah Addo-Ankrah nailed a three-pointer jumper with five seconds to go to give Denver their first chance to win a conference tournament game since 2018. That was Addo-Ankrah’s third clutch shot with under ten seconds to go this season.
Kansas City called timeout and had to go the full distance of the court to try and neutralize the game. They got off a clean inbound and pushed up the court quickly into the hands of Khristion Courseault. Courseault went up for a layup but was denied by junior forward Pedro Lopez-Sanvicente who sealed the game for the Crimson and Gold.
Denver moves on to play the sixth-seeded Omaha in the semifinals. It is their first appearance since 2018 and Denver will look to advance to the conference finals for the first time since joining the conference. Tip-off for Monday’s game is at 7:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The game is available to stream on the Summit League Network.
Women’s Basketball
DU women’s basketball’s season concluded at the Summit League quarterfinals on Saturday after a 60-72 loss to North Dakota State.
Denver did not shoot the ball well throughout the first half and shot 9 for 26 from the field. They would go into halftime with an 11-point deficit but sparked a comeback in the fourth quarter. Their best shooting quarter came in the third and the team was able to dwindle down the Bison’s lead to four. But the good momentum did not last and NDSU widened their lead too far in the fourth for Denver to never come back.
Sophomore guard Jordan Jones finished her solid season with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. She was named to the All-Summit League Second Team prior to the contest.
DU’s season ends with an 8-22 record and will lose four seniors to graduation. It will be an interesting off-season for Head Coach Doshia Woods and staff who will look to bring in new players to brighten up the program.
Men’s Hockey
No. 4 DU hockey split their last regular season series and retained the Gold Pan trophy over No. 10 Colorado College. The Crimson and Gold were defeated by the Tigers 3-4 on Friday night but came back to Magness Arena on Saturday and won their final regular season game, 4-3.
In Friday’s game, Denver scored 16 seconds in via a tap in goal from junior forward Jack Devine. Despite this quick event, CC scored the next four goals in the contest. Denver mustered a comeback in the third period and brought the deficit back to one but came up short and lost their first regular season game in 13 games.
The first game in the series was a rough performance for Denver’s special teams. Denver went 0 for 4 on the power play and also gave up a shorthanded goal in the second period. Freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger committed a major penalty that sat him in the box for five minutes but Denver never allowed a goal.
Saturday’s game was a much more favorable atmosphere for Denver and the stands of Magness Arena were full for the last rival game of the season. Denver did not have the same hot start they did in the last game, and let up the second shorthanded goal of the series less than six minutes into the game.
But, Denver answered back with two goals stretching over the first and second periods. Freshman forward Sam Harris stayed hot with another goal and sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz fired a nice top-shelf backhander to give Denver their first lead of the game.
After more back-and-forth momentum, both teams went into the final frame tied at three. The game-winner came around the halfway point of the period, where sophomore forward Jared Wright slotted a rebound off the post to record his fourth game-winning goal of the season.
DU now moves on to the NCHC tournament and will host their first quarterfinal series as the No. 2 seed. They will take on the No. 7 seeded Minnesota Duluth on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a best-of-three series. Friday’s puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. and Saturday’s is slated for 6 p.m.
Women’s Gymnastics
No. 11 Denver gymnastics hit the road this weekend and picked up another quad meet win in Missouri. DU recorded a 197.625 team score and edged out second-place Missouri by 0.250 points.
DU was fairly consistent in all the events and beat out their season averages in the vault, bars and beam events. Their best team score of the day came in the uneven bars event where they recorded a 49.550.
Individually, senior Jessica Hutchinson continues to amaze the sport and recorded a 39.725 all-around score to capture the all-around title. She had her best performance on the bars where she recorded a near-perfect 9.975 score. Hutchinson did not do as well on the floor event as she usually does but tied with fellow seniors Rosie Casali and Rylie Mundell for the bars and vault event titles.
Casali picked up a third-place all-around finish with a 39.500, the highest mark of her career.
Denver stays on the road this week for a tough regular season concluding dual meet against the No. 7 University of Michigan. The team will be in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Friday and the meet is slated to begin at 5 p.m. It will be available to stream on Big 10 +.
Men’s Lacrosse
The No.1 men’s lacrosse team in the country was handed their first loss of the year at the hands of No. 15 Yale. The Bulldogs defeated the Crimson and Gold 15-13.
After a back-and-forth first half, DU fell to a one-goal deficit heading into halftime. Denver came out of the intermission potent on offense and went on a 4-1 run to take a 10-9 lead with less than seven minutes to go in the third quarter.
After the 4-1 Denver run, Yale answered back with four unanswered goals. In a game full of runs, Denver responded yet again with three unanswered goals that brought the game to a 13-13 tie. Two Bulldogs goals, a defensive shutdown in the final ten minutes of the game and several Denver shots that rang off the post eventually gave the victory to Yale.
Graduate attack JJ Sillstrop and junior attack Noah Manning led the way in scoring with a hat trick. Senior attack Michael Lampert recorded three assists in the contest.
After falling to 5-1, Denver will look to get back in the winning column during their next contest on the road at The Ohio State University. Game time is slated for St. Patrick’s Day in Columbus at 10 a.m. and the game will be available to stream on Big 10 +.
Women’s Lacrosse
DU women’s lacrosse split their two game ranked slate on the road this past week. DU fell to the No. 1 Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday 10-14 and bounced back to defeat No. 11 Stony Brook on Monday, 8-7.
In Saturday’s rematch from last year’s NCAA semifinals, Northwestern started off hot, scoring the first three goals of the game. DU’s offense burst on the scene with a 6-2 run and took a one goal lead in the beginning minutes of the third quarter.
After a close third quarter where Northwestern took back the lead, Denver graduate attack Olivia Penoyer slotted away a goal with nine seconds left to give Denver a one-goal deficit heading into the final frame.
Freshman attack Kyra Orbert equalized the game less than three minutes into the quarter but the Wildcats took control of the game from that moment. Five unanswered goals lifted Northwestern to one of their biggest wins of the season.
Obert recorded her first hat trick of the season and added an assist as well. Penoyer finished with two goals and six shots on goal.
In Monday’s game against the Seawolves, Denver was held scoreless until the 2-minute 27-second mark in the first quarter. After trading more goals, DU went into halftime with a one goal deficit.
Stony Brook came out of the break and scored two goals to bring their lead to three. Denver followed up with three unanswered goals to bring the game back to a tie to start the final quarter.
Each team scored a goal to open up the first half of the quarter to bring the score to 6-6. Graduate attack Julia Gilbert scored her fourth of the game to give Denver the lead with less than five minutes to go, but the good momentum would halt after a DU penalty turned into a Stony Brook goal.
With less than a minute to go, Denver stayed on the offensive side of the field and generated some chances for the game’s equalizer. With 14 seconds left on the clock, a rebound trickled out to graduate attack Jane Earley who slotted away the game-winning-goal and gave the Crimson and Gold a much-needed win.
After improving to 4-3 on the season, Denver will return home and host their next two contests. They will host Stanford University on St. Patrick’s Day at 1 p.m.
Men’s Tennis
DU men’s tennis improved to 13-0 this season with a road match win against the University of New Mexico. The Crimson and Gold narrowly defeated the Lobos, 4-3.
The doubles point was captured by Denver to start off the match. Junior Daniel Sancho Arbizu combined with graduate Marvin Schaber for a tiebreaker win while sophomore Raffaello Papajcik paired with graduate student Anish Sriniketh to a 6-3 win.
On the singles side, Papajcik and Schaber won their singles matches in singles sets while junior Rikuto Yamaguchi won his match in three sets to lift DU to their 13th consecutive victory.
Denver will come back to Colorado and go down the I-25 corridor to take on the Air Force Academy in their next match on Saturday.
Women’s Tennis
No. 38 Denver women’s tennis picked up their second and third conference match wins this weekend over South Dakota and Omaha. DU defeated the Coyotes at home on Friday and the Mavericks on the road on Saturday. Both matches were won 6-1.
After not capturing the doubles points in Friday’s victory, DU dominated on the singles side. Only one match went to three sets and each of the six singles matches were captured by the Crimson and Gold. Sophomore Alice Otis had the biggest victory, only giving up two points en route to the win.
DU moved on to Omaha the next day and started off the right way by capturing the doubles point. Sophomores Caroline Driscoll and Louise Wikander combined for a 6-2 win and graduate student Britt Pursell paired with junior Andrea Burguete Beltran to a 6-1 win.
On the singles side, DU only fell in one of the matches. Driscoll never dropped a set or point in her win while Burguete Beltran, Otis, and sophomore Claudia Martinez de Velasco also won their singles matches in straight sets. Pursell battled to tiebreakers in the third set and eventually came out with the victory.
Denver has two out-of-conference matches next week in Charlotte, N.C. They will take on Charlotte on Friday and Wichita State on Saturday.
