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Tag: denver pioneers

  • DU Pioneers advance in NCAA men’s soccer tournament with shutout win over UC Irvine

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    From passive to pouncing, the Pioneers are marching on.

    The University of Denver men’s soccer team opened its NCAA Tournament run with a 2-0 first-round win over UC Irvine on Thursday afternoon at University of Denver Soccer Stadium. And the Pios have a true freshman to thank for it.

    When outside back Kai Carlson stepped onto DU’s campus for the first time this fall, he leaned on defensive tendencies he developed at the Portland Timbers academy. But at his position in DU head coach Jamie Franks’ system, he had to adjust.

    The Pioneers thrive with attacking wingbacks with speed, precision and a willingness to attack. Carlson rode the bench for half the season while he built up that part of his game. Forward Ian Welch became a close friend and role model over that time, Carlson said, and some of his attacking habits have been passed down.

    After a much-too-passive first half, Carlson subbed on in the 69th minute and wasted no time changing the story. Receiving a ball from a center back, he saw space and attacked it, forcing a defender to make a decision. The result was a wide-open Bryce Willoughby as a target on the byline.

    Carlson found the winger, who then provided service to Kyle McGowan for the opening goal in the 71st minute.

    “I’ve learned a lot about myself since being here,” Carlson said. “… I’ve learned that if I’m confident in myself, I can make things happen going (into the attack), and I can also get back and defend and help us keep a clean sheet.

    “Building that trust has really helped me a lot to get to where I’m at.”

    It was difficult for Franks, who often takes a traditional approach of redshirting freshmen, to keep Carlson off the field — especially at a position that isn’t all that deep. He’s got stalwarts like senior Dylan Akau and Will King, but Carlson has proven he can make an impact off the bench.

    Both career assists for the freshman have come in the postseason — one against UC Irvine on Thursday, and one in the Summit League semifinal against Oral Roberts.

    “He’s a gamer, you know? We loved Kai (as a recruit) because of his instincts. He plays off his instincts, he trusts himself, he really believes in us and in his game,” Franks said. “He’s just come such a long way this fall. It’s so hard for incoming guys to come and play college soccer, but he’s just done a great job learning and growing. We knew he was ready for this moment.”

    University of Denver midfielder Luke Schultz (14) scores a goal against UC Irvine goalkeeper Joe O’Shaughnessy (1) during their first-round NCAA Tournament game at University of Denver Soccer Stadium in Denver on Thursday, November 20, 2025. DU won 2-0. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

    The beneficiary of Carlson’s impulse to attack was McGowan, whose first shot rebounded straight back to him, allowing him to blast it into the roof of the net for the opening goal. It was his 10th of the season, making him the seventh player in program history to reach double figures in a single season.

    Seven of those goals have come since Oct. 10.

    Like in the Summit League final on Sunday, once the first goal came, it didn’t take long for another. Keegan Kelly found a streaking Luke Schultz at the penalty spot, who took an extra touch toward the right post before blistering the roof of the net himself from a tight angle in the 74th minute.

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    Braidon Nourse

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  • Quentin Miller has huge shoes to fill as DU’s No. 1 goalie, but the freshman looks up to the task

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    There is tough news for the other top NCAA hockey programs that were happy to see Matt Davis exhaust his college eligibility: It appears the University of Denver has found another one.

    It was a winding journey for Quentin Miller to get here, but he looks quite at home in net for the Pioneers. He made 29 saves Friday night, outdueling Colorado College star netminder Kaidan Mbereko in a 2-1 overtime win in front of the largest crowd ever for a hockey game at Magness Arena (7,073).

    “He’s amazing. He’s the best person and kid too, so you just want to see him have success,” DU defenseman Boston Buckberger said. “I think what he’s done for our team, being kind of a brick and our foundation back there, we know we can rely on him. He’s bailed us out numerous times already. When we go the other way and get our chances, we’ve got to look back and give kudos and credit to him.

    “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have been able to come back (Friday) night. Huge credit to him. I just hope he keeps it rolling, because it’s awesome.”

    People toss around the term legend too loosely in sports, but Davis became one at DU after his incredible 2024 postseason run leading the Pioneers to an NCAA-record 10th national championship. He also helped the Pios back to the Frozen Four last year, and finished his career 6-1 in NCAA Tournament games with eight goals allowed.

    Those are massive skates to fill. Enter Miller, who played for three different Canadian junior teams and 10 months ago wasn’t playing at all because of an injury.

    A Montreal native, Miller was the backup goalie for the Patrick Roy-led Quebec Ramparts in 2022-23. That team won the Memorial Cup, and helped Roy return to the NHL with the New York Islanders. His work also made him a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft by his hometown Montreal Canadiens.

    Miller was traded in the middle of the next season to Rimouski. He needed shoulder surgery in September 2024, so Rimouski, which was hosting the Memorial Cup, traded for another goaltender. When he was getting close to returning from the surgery, there wasn’t going to be obvious playing time for him, so he went west to the BCHL and joined the Chilliwack Chiefs.

    That’s when the Pioneers got involved. Before players with CHL experience were granted NCAA eligibility, junior players often committed years in advance of college. The forthcoming rule change drastically altered the recruiting landscape last season.

    “(Assistant coach Tavis MacMillian) learned of a guy in Chilliwack that was coming out of injuries, so just connections and people that we know up there,” DU coach David Carle said. “We didn’t have a long time to watch him, because he came back from injury sometime in late January, early February. We made the decision to recruit him and fortunately for us, he was able to get (33) games in through the BCHL playoffs.

    “We have good connections in the Montreal organization as well, and they were supportive of him coming here. That all kind of factors into it.”

    Miller played 10 regular-season games for the Chiefs, then helped them to the BCHL championship series before losing to the Brooks Bandits. The Pios not only had to replace Davis, but his backup from the past two seasons, Freddie Halyk, also transferred to Brown.

    The three goalies on the roster are two freshmen — Miller and Johnny Hicks — plus junior Paxton Geisel, who had appeared in one game in two years.

    “I think that was the big question coming into this year. We didn’t really have a goalie,” junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp said. “But (Miller) has come in and he’s been fantastic. Even from game one against Air Force, he had a really good game, and he’s just embraced it. He’s super confident. He’s easy to play with. He’s getting better on his goalie breakouts and just keeps improving.”

    Miller improved to 6-2-1 with a .941 save percentage after the win Friday night. He helped DU go to Western Michigan, the defending NCAA champs, and sweep the Broncos last weekend with 76 saves on 80 shots.

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    Corey Masisak

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  • University of Denver moving to West Coast Conference in 2026, according to report

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    The University of Denver is riding the latest wave of college realignment.

    DU is moving from the Summit League to the West Coast Conference in 2026, according to a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The Pioneers will be a member of the conference in nine sports.

    A move to the WCC fits the bill for DU, a private school, as the league is comprised of private schools on the West Coast. Though Gonzaga, historically the conference’s best basketball school, is leaving for the rebuilt Pac-12 in 2026, the conference is still a step up for the Pioneers in the college athletics landscape.

    The Pioneers have belonged to the Summit League since 2013. Prior to that, DU spent a year in the Western Athletic Conference, was in the Sun Belt from 1999-2012, and was independent from 1962-99. Before that, DU was a part of the Mountain States Athletic Conference.

    Basketball-wise, the WCC will be a challenge for DU’s men’s basketball team, which struggled to find a consistent footing in the Summit and has never made an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Pioneers begin the 2025-26 season next week under first-year coach Tim Bergstraser, and haven’t had a winning season since 2016-17.

    The school has yet to make a formal announcement about the move, though that is expected to come sometime Friday morning. DU athletics staff members received emails early Friday morning stating there would be a mandatory meeting at 9 a.m., a source told The Denver Post.

    This story will be updated.

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    Kyle Newman

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  • DU men’s lacrosse takes down Syracuse, clinches first Final Four bid in seven years

    DU men’s lacrosse takes down Syracuse, clinches first Final Four bid in seven years

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    The DU Pioneers are Final Four bound.

    Surging ahead with a six-goal third quarter, the University of Denver men’s lacrosse team beat Syracuse, 10-8, at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md., to secure a spot in next weekend’s NCAA Tournament Final Four.

    The fifth-seeded Pioneers (13-3) will take on top-seeded Notre Dame (14-1) on Saturday, May 25, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. It will mark the Pios’ first Final Four trip since 2017 and sixth overall, with first-year head coach Matt Brown looking to win the program’s second national title.

    Michael Lampert, J.J. Sillstrop, Cody Malawsky and Ty Hussey scored two goals apiece, Alec Stathakis picked up six ground balls and Casey Wilson had five, while goaltender Malcolm Kleban made 10 saves.

    The Pioneers entered the fourth quarter with a 10-5 lead, then survived a flurry of offense from the fourth-seeded Orange (12-6) to pick up the victory.

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    The Denver Post

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  • DU women’s lacrosse eliminated by Northwestern in NCAA Tournament

    DU women’s lacrosse eliminated by Northwestern in NCAA Tournament

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    The University of Denver women’s lacrosse team ran into a familiar roadblock Sunday afternoon.

    The Northwestern Wildcats eliminated the Pioneers from the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, rolling to a 17-4 victory on their home turf in Evanston, Ill.

    The No. 1 overall seed netted 13 goals in the first half to take a commanding 10-goal lead into the break, then cruised from there to halt the Pios’ tournament run two wins shy of a return trip to the Final Four.

    The Wildcats (16-2) scored the game’s first five goals before Julia Gilbert got DU on the board with a goal with 6:54 left in the first period. Northwestern’s Izzy Scane set a new standard for women’s lacrosse goal-scoring as part of the run, topping Boston College and Duke product Charlotte North’s NCAA record 358 career goals.

    Gilbert finished with two goals for DU, while Lauren Black and Sloane Kipp added goals of their own, but it wasn’t near enough to match the reigning national champions’ offensive firepower. Northwestern beat DU 15-7 in last year’s Final Four en route to its eighth national title.

    The Pioneers (16-4) reached the NCAA Tournament for the sixth consecutive season, excluding the 2020 COVID year. Thanks to a 13-12 victory over Stanford on Friday, they’ve won at least one tournament game in each of those six trips. They also won the Big East tournament for the fourth year in a row.

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    Matt Schubert

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  • DU defenseman Sean Behrens signs three-year entry-level contract with Avalanche

    DU defenseman Sean Behrens signs three-year entry-level contract with Avalanche

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    The Colorado Avalanche and Sean Behrens finally made it official.

    Behrens signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Avs, the team announced Friday, allowing the University of Denver defenseman to join the franchise that selected him 61st overall in the 2021 NHL draft. The deal begins in 2024-25, but he will join the Colorado Eagles in the AHL for the remainder of the 2023-24 season on an amateur tryout.

    Behrens took part in the Avs’ development camp in back-to-back years in 2022 and ’23. He comes to the Avs following a junior season at DU that saw him post career numbers in goals (4), assists (27), points (31) and games played (44).

    He is a two-time national champion, helping the Pioneers win their 10th NCAA championship just a week ago and their ninth in 2022 when Denver defeated Minnesota State.

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    The Denver Post

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  • DU Pioneers beat UMass on Tristan Broz’s goal to claim double-overtime thriller in NCAA Tournament

    DU Pioneers beat UMass on Tristan Broz’s goal to claim double-overtime thriller in NCAA Tournament

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    The University of Denver hockey team crossed two time zones to reach its NCAA hockey regional in Springfield, Mass.

    There, the top-seeded Pioneers met a fourth-seeded UMass Minutemen squad that needed to drive approximately 26 miles to arrive at MassMutual Center for Thursday afternoon’s win-or-go home affair.

    Yet somehow, the Pios never ran out of gas.

    In a back-and-forth marathon that featured two brilliant performances in net, forward Tristan Broz slipped a wrist shot into the right side of the goal to send DU to a 2-1 double-overtime victory that left a partisan UMass crowd stunned.

    The game-winner put the Pioneers (29-9-3) a win away their 19th Frozen Four bid, with all that’s standing between them and a trip to St. Paul, Minn., a date with Maine or Cornell on Saturday (2 p.m. MDT) in Springfield.

    “It wasn’t easy,” Broz told the ESPN2 broadcast after the win. “That was a heck of a hockey game and (UMass) gave us everything they had.”

    Of course, Broz wouldn’t have even have had a chance at the game-winner were it not for the play of goaltender Matt Davis in net. The junior turned away 46 shots, including several at close range, and somehow managed to stay in the game after appearing to injure himself doing the splits in the second OT.

    “It felt like they could have had five or 10 goals there,” Broz said of UMass. “… (Davis) is a warrior and we love him.”

    DU entered the regional as the No. 3 overall seed in the 16-team NCAA Tournament bracket and played like it early on, putting up a 10-5 advantage in shots on goal in the first period.

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    Matt Schubert

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