Success from both lacrosse teams, domination from both tennis squads and men’s golf action in Arizona.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Women’s Lacrosse
The No. 3 women’s lacrosse team continued their undefeated winning streak and defeated two Big East opponents this past week to improve to 13-0 on the season. Their first contest was against unranked Butler, and Denver recorded a season-high for goals scored in their 19-4 victory. Junior attack Sloane Kipp (Dallas, Texas) scored a career-high four goals in the contest, and sophomore attack Lauren Black (New Westminster, B.C) and senior attack Julia Gilbert (Mclean, Va.) each posted a hat trick against the Bulldogs. Freshman attack Ryan Dineen (Huntingtown, Md.) had an impressive six assists in the contest which was good for 8th most in a game in program history. Denver’s offense dominated the contest, scoring eight goals to open up the game in the first quarter and never looking back. Defensively they caused a whopping 16 turnovers and only committed one turnover on the offensive side. Their second contest of the week was against a slightly tougher opponent, the No. 25 University of Connecticut, but the result of the game was the same, as DU defeated the Huskies 14-9. Kipp and Gilbert scored their second hat trick of the week and Dineen also added a hat trick to her already impressive week. DU got off to a hot start again in the first quarter, outsourcing UConn 7-3 which lifted them to their third straight Big East conference win. Their next contest will be against a non-conference opponent, the University of Stanford on Friday night in front of a home crowd at Peter Barton Stadium.
Men’s Lacrosse
The No. 17/19 men’s lacrosse squad had a stellar day on Saturday when they celebrated the career of legendary head coach Bill Tierney and upended No. 9/11 Villanova, 12-6. Senior attack Richie Connell (Evergreen, Colo.) led the way for DU, scoring twice and adding an assist to his 16-game point streak. Junior attack Joshua Carlson (Centennial, Colo.) added two goals of his own alongside sophomore short-stick defensive midfielder Casey Wilson (Victoria, B.C) who also had two goals and an assist. After the Wildcats scored two of the first three goals to open the contest, DU scored the next nine goals over the first three-quarters of the contest to help lift them over the higher-ranked Big East opponent. DU buckled down defensively and held Villanova without a goal during that timespan, forcing four turnovers in the contest. The team improved to 5-4 on the season, and their next contest is Thursday night against non-conference opponent Towson University.
Women’s Tennis
The No. 51 women’s tennis squad extended their winning streak to four with two match wins against Tulsa and Oral Roberts this past week. Their first match was Friday afternoon and the Crimson and Gold picked up their second nationally ranked victory on the road against Tulsa, 4-2. Fifth-year Taylor Melville (Duluth, Ga.) won the No. 1 singles match in three sets while freshman Caroline Driscoll (Brookline, Mass.), freshman Louise Wikander (Helsingborg, Sweden) and freshman Claudia Martinez de Velasco (Madrid, Spain) won their respective matches in straight sets to lift them to the Summit League match victory. The next day, the team stayed in Tulsa to take on Oral Roberts, and the team swept the Golden Eagles to earn their third Summit League sweep of the season. Every match besides the No. 5 singles was won in straight sets. The next match for the squad will be in North Dakota on Saturday against the University of North Dakota before the squad travels back to Tulsa to take part in the Summit League Championships.
Men’s Tennis
The No. 66 men’s tennis squad also was in Summit League action this week and dominated Oral Roberts and Illinois State in their two contests. Their first match was against Oral Roberts on Friday afternoon, and DU swept the Golden Eagles, 7-0. Junior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta (Segovia, Spain) won his match in straight sets, and only two matches in the entire contest went to three sets. Two days later, on Sunday, DU traveled to central Illinois and nearly swept the Redbirds, winning 6-1 in the contest. Herrero Cuesta only dropped one game in his match, and junior Peter Sallay (Budapest, Hungary) only dropped two games in his singles victory. Only one match, the No. 4 singles match, went to three sets while the rest were won or lost in straight sets. DU will host Omaha Friday afternoon for their last home match of the season before taking off to North Dakota to take on the Fighting Hawks on Sunday for their last regular season match of the season.
Men’s Golf
The men’s golf squad was in Chandler, Arizona this past week taking part in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic and finished 18th out of 21 competing teams with a score of 35 strokes over par. Graduate student Carson Griggs (Sand Springs, Okla.) continued his solid spring season with four strokes over par and a team-leading 32nd-place finish. He and freshman Jack Dozer (Phoenix, Ariz.) had the only rounds under par, scoring a 69 in the first round which was also the best round for DU overall. Senior Brady Arnett (Woodbury, Minn.) was only a stroke behind Griggs and finished five strokes over the score. The team will be in another warm state in their next tournament, taking part in the El Macero Classic on April 14-16 in California.
