Senior Kristen Hamilton continues to lead the Pioneers this season, tallying 40 points off of 14 goals and 12 assists.
The University of Denver women’s soccer team will make its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers will host their in-state rival University of Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 16, at CIBER Field. This is the second consecutive year Denver has hosted a first-round game of the tournament.
“I was really happy to get one of the top-16 seeds,” says head coach Jeff Hooker. “That is one thing we set out during the year to do. The NCAA has a cruel way of putting rival teams together, and they’ve done that again. We have Colorado, who is our in-state rival, and if we were to win that, [the next game would most likely be against] BYU, who we’ve played once already this year. I’m just really proud of what the team has done and how we’ve closed out the season with the conference tournament final.”
The overall No. 1 seed in the region was the Florida State Seminoles, who will host South Alabama. The No. 2 seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers, who gave Denver its only loss of the season, will host Southeastern Louisiana. No. 3 Portland will host Seattle. If the Pioneers advance, they will play the winner of BYU vs. Weber State.
“We’re really looking forward to the weekend. It’s always tough to beat a team twice in a season,” Hooker says. “That’s going to be our job and our focus if we want to move on. It’s great to have the home field; we worked hard all season long to have that opportunity. We deserve that game and deserve to have it at home.”
Start time for Saturday’s game is TBD; visit DenverPioneers.com for more information on the women’s soccer team.