DU Women’s Triathlon ended its 2024 campaign on a strange two-day National Championship and women’s soccer (11-6-2) fell in the Summit League Tournament semifinals to South Dakota State. This concludes both teams’ fall season.
Hurricane damage to the swim venue for the Western Regional Championships in Clermont, Florida pushed the organizers to split the event into a two-day pursuit-style race. This change to the season-long format broke up a typical triathlon single event to a crap shoot. Denver finished seventh but deserved better, especially for their first-ever senior graduates. Their top three finish at the Western Regionals was much more representative of their overall talent.
At the Summit League Championships in Fargo, North Dakota, Denver fell behind 2-0 to the Jackrabbits. A goal by South Dakota State in the first half (29′) put Denver behind and the Pioneers could not find the equalizer. The Jackrabbits followed that with another goal, 16 minutes into the second half, to forge a 2-0 lead. Denver had their chances, with two goals called back for being offside, and missed several other chances. However, SDSU outplayed DU with 8 shots-on-goal to DU’s two and they forced the Pioneers into nine offsides. It was a disappointing result as DU should consistently dominate the Summit League. Missing the NCAA Tournament has to be a major disappointment for head coach Julianne Sitch and her program.
Denver men’s soccer (12-2-4, 7-1-0) completed regular season conference play in Omaha, Nebraska with a 2-1 win over the Omaha Mavericks and further bolstered its resume after clinching the conference regular season crown and hosting duties for the Summit League Championship with its victory over Oral Roberts last weekend. Denver struck twice in the first half, 31 seconds apart, as Oje Ofunrein collected a pair of goals. Denver held the Mavs scoreless until the 89th minute when Omaha scored their only goal.
#2-ranked Denver men’s soccer won their 10th regular season title and will host this weekend’s Summit League Final (Saturday/2 p.m. MT) against Kansas City for the league’s automatic bid and, likely, a home-field path through the NCAA Tournament. It will also be the teams’ third matchup of the season. Kansas City won the first matchup, 1-0, on October 12th while the Pioneers followed that up with a 2-1 victory in Denver on October 30th.
Denver men’s basketball travels to Colorado State Tuesday at 7 pm MT with a game against the Rams (TV: Mountain West Network; Radio: 104.3 The Fan HD3).
Undefeated and top-ranked DU Hockey is headed to Grand Forks to take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the Pioneers’ NCHC-opening series. The games are scheduled for 6 pm MT and 5 pm MT on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Friday’s game will be televised on NCHC.tv and TSN3 across Canada while Saturday’s game will be on NCHC.tv and Altitude locally, if you get it. Both games, as always, will be broadcast on Denver Sports Radio 104.3 HD3.
Dunker enjoyed your well written update. Very pissed about the basketball defection. Out of sympathy, the NCAA should give the Philadelphia kid another year of eligibility. Maybe Welbrun can find some athletic Juco to enroll in 2 weeks. Shamond Williams must know where the bodies are buried. He doesn’t even have to go to class; just play hoops for a quarter and have the professors turn his grades in slowly. Desperate times call for desperate measures.