The sudden end of the #1 seed DU women’s soccer (11-4-4, 8-0-1) season came Sunday afternoon during the Summit League Tournament semifinals at Pioneer Field. The underdog #4 Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (10-9-2, 4-5-0) bunkered in during the game, packing the back line, failing to go on the offensive, and hoping for overtime and a shootout. After a scoreless regulation draw and extra time, the Golden Eagles got their wish and took down DU 3-2 during PK’s. Denver outshot ORU 14-3 and shots-on-goal 5-3 but the Pioneers could not find the back of the net. The final result marked a shocking end to DU’s post-season hopes after an undefeated conference regular season. #2 seed, South Dakota State fell to Omaha as the top two seeds were booted from the Summit League Tournament.
After a ten-day layoff, Denver men’s soccer (9-2-5, 4-0-2) traveled to Eastern Illinois Saturday morning and defeated the Panthers 3-0. Holger Olsson netted a pair of goals for DU, one in the first half (41:35) and another early in the second half (49:18). Lukas Fischer sealed the match at 55:20 to complete the shutout win. Eastern Illinois has had a poor season and was outshot 25 to 4 with 12 to 3 shots on goal.
Next up for the Pioneers is Lindenwood on Wednesday, November 2nd in St. Charles, Missouri.
Women’s volleyball (15-9, 9-4) earned a road sweep against Western Illinois and St Thomas, both by scores of 3-1. Denver was led by Memphis Glasgow’s 32 kills, 6 blocks and 30 digs during the two-game set. Lorrin Poulter chipped in with 88 assists in the two victories.
Denver returns home for a pair of matches against Oral Roberts (6:00 pm MT) on Thursday and UMKC (1:00 pm MT) on Saturday for their final regular season home matches. The Summit League Tournament will be held in Omaha, Nebraska after DU road trips to North Dakota State, North Dakota, and Omaha.
Denver Triathlon had an outstanding day Sunday at the Bearathlon in Berkeley, California. Denver won the collegiate division and placed two athletes on the podium – Elizabeth Harita in second and Avarie Faulkner in third. DU’s Melissa Funes captured the fifth spot during the last regular season triathlon of the season before the NCAA championships. The Pioneers finished in first place for the day, ahead of San Francisco and Colorado Mesa. Defending Nationa Champion Arizona State did not compete at the Bearathon.
The Pioneers compete Saturday, Nov. 12 in Tempe, Arizona, for the 2022 Triathlon Collegiate National Championships.
Rule change needed
The coach should be fired. A university is a place to not just class room educate adolescents as they mature into adult hood but to learn how to be a team mate, how to act responsively how to be honest with your friends and others How to on and on and on .
Bringing young ladies a long distance so they can act like a bunch of cowards is wrong. The score says they won but they didn’t .those young ladies lost.
In Division I, coaches are primarily paid to WIN within the rules. The other stuff is important too, but if D-I coaches do not win, they get fired.
Oral Roberts did exactly what it had to do to survive and advance. The Oral Roberts staff knew they could not beat a better DU team by risking going forward very much, so they won the game by bunkering defensively and taking the game to penalty kicks where the odds of advancing were far better for them. That may not be attractive soccer to watch, but they executed their strategy according to the rules and were rewarded for it. This bunker strategy happens a lot in soccer all over the world, even at the pro level. I’m sure that ORU’s athletes are all THRILLED to be advancing for a chance to play for an NCAA tourney berth.
As for the Pioneers, the bottom line is that they could not score when it mattered, and the better team lost the game and their whole good season with it. Some of the DU players will take this loss to their graves, and may never have another chance to play at so high a level again. It’s a sad ending for DU, but a perfectly fair and legal win for ORU.
A good friend of mine saw the game and said it was absolutely brutal. DU dominated play and 100% deserved to win, but that’s life/sports. Terrible way to end the season, though.
Whoa this anger about a defensive shell is strange. They must not watch a lot of soccer. Yes, it sucks when an opponent does that AND you can’t score. But that’s up to DU to anticipate that, and to break through. And they didn’t. No one to blame but yourself in that situation, certainly not the other team. By playing that way, they are just admitting they can’t hang with DU otherwise, but part of the game in these types of matchups.