Denver men’s soccer (5-2-1, 1-0-0) traveled to Macomb, Illinois to play Western Illinois and pulled out a tough 2-1 win. 26 minutes into the first half, senior defender Jake Mecham got DU on the board. Stefan DeLeone buried a penalty kick ten minutes later for a 2-0 Denver lead. Denver controlled the pace of play the balance of the contest but Western Illinois countered with a goal of their own at 74:09. Denver held on for the win in their first conference match of the season and will likely be returning to the same field for the Summit League Tournament the second week in November.

Women’s volleyball (11-1, 2-0)  went 2-0 by defeating Western Illinois on Thursday and new Summit League member St. Thomas on Saturday, both by scores of 3-0. Outside hitter Erica Andrich had 23 kills and Ellie Anderson had a whopping 49 assists over the two-game sweep. Freshman outside hitter Hailey Green had 11 kills against Western Illinois and looks to be a valuable addition to an already deep front line. Head Coach Tom Hogan played deep into his bench during the two-game series, giving several younger players valuable experience.

Volleyball has a challenging week ahead with road matches against UMKC Tuesday and Omaha on Saturday. LetsGoDU will be providing live match coverage for Kansas City.

Women’s soccer (5-5, 0-0) played their final non-conference match Saturday night as a tune-up before their first conference match this upcoming Friday in Omaha, Nebraska. Denver jumped out to a 1-0 lead against San Diego on a goal by Sydney Sharp, assisted by Sami Feller.  Denver missed several scoring opportunities in the second half and gave up two goals to the Toreros to fall 2-1. It was a physical contest with 18 fouls and four yellow cards. While Denver had a challenging non-conference schedule, a .500 record heading into conference play was unexpected.