Freshman phenom Liv Moritz has the energy it takes to be a two-sport star. The 19-year-old from Vail has been a star performer in both soccer and skiing in her freshman season at the University of Denver. 

In the fall, Moritz had a breakthrough season on the soccer field, scoring seven goals and assisting four. Both marks are second on the team, despite the fact she played fewer minutes than some of the more experienced attackers on the team. 

She was ranked as the 54th-best freshman in the country by Top Drawer Soccer after the season, the first time a Denver player made the top 100 since 2018. The scale of the success surprised even Moritz herself. “Definitely wasn’t expecting [my role on the team this year]. I come from a small mountain town and I played for a really small club,” she said. “I was never exposed to really high-level soccer, so I was expecting to come in and take some time to adjust to the level, but I surprised myself and adjusted extremely quickly”.

Despite her small-town upbringing, Moritz has a family of athletes to fall back on. Her mother played two sports, including skiing at Dartmouth, her father played soccer at Colorado and her aunt played three sports at Middlebury College. Athletics is in her blood. 

Moritz said that her athletic relatives taught her that, “even coming from Vail, you can still play at a high level despite the fact not many people had done it before. Their experience also helped me a lot during the college process.” 

Even though Moritz was a star on the soccer field, she might be even better as a skier. Coming from Vail, it is only natural that she started skiing at three years old and was racing by the time she was eight. She already ranks 109th in the world in slalom and has a big future ahead of her entering her first year skiing at Denver. 

“I am working towards a professional path and hopefully I can be on the World Cup circuit in a couple of years and putting up top 30 finishes hopefully, maybe top 10’s,” she said. 

She is working her way towards competing in the Olympics someday.

With all of this going on, one might ask if she ever has any free time. According to her, free time is few and far between. 

“In the fall it felt busy because I would end class and then go straight to practice, I wouldn’t have much time to eat or relax. I try to find little moments of free time and those are important for me,”she said. 

In the little free time she has, she likes to hang out with her sisters and play tennis.

Despite being on such a busy schedule, Moritz has been able to perform at a high level in multiple sports in her first year at the collegiate level. This is only the beginning of what could be a legendary career for Liz Mortiz at the University of Denver.