THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
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Sami Feller broke a scoreless deadlock early in the second half, netted her second brace against the Fighting Hawks this year and Denver kept its 12th cleansheet of the regular season to send the Pioneers to their third-straight Summit League Final after a 3-0 victory over North Dakota in the Summit League Semifinal on Thursdsay.
• Top-seeded Denver will meet second-seeded South Dakota State in the Summit League Final, presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare, on Saturday afternoon in Brookings, with kickoff set for 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT. Each of the previous two meetings between the two programs in the postseason have gone to penalty kicks (SDSU won both).
• The winner of the 2019 Summit League Tournament will await the NCAA Selection Show set for Monday at 2:30 p.m. MT.
HEAD COACH JEFF HOOKER
• Denver's
Jeff Hooker is in his 28th season in charge of the women's program.
• Hooker recorded his 350th career women's win in the Pioneers Summit League Semifinal victory over North Dakota State on November 1, 2018.
• Hooker coached both the men's and the women's programs during the 1996 and 1997 seasons, making this officially his 30th season as a head coach at DU.
• DU's head man enters this match with a 363-154-49 women's record, and a career record of 383-166-53.
• The 11-time conference coach of the year has been a part of each of Denver's 11 Division I NCAA Tournament appearances.
• In league play in his career, Hooker is 178-38-14, including 173-34-14 with the women's program.
• In the overall NCAA record books heading into this season, Hooker is the 17th winningest head coach by victories (351), and 13th on the active list.
• Hooker coached in his 600th career match against South Dakota State on October 31, a match that gave the Pioneers their 10th DI regular season conference title.
GET ON THE BOARD FIRST
• Since the start of the 2006 season, Denver is 178-15-7 when scoring the first goal.
• Five of the 15 losses came in the 2017 campaign, including at Colorado in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Denver also lost when scoring first in its 2019 clash at Portland.
• Since the start of the 2002 season, Denver has outscored opponents 210-82 in the opening half hour of matches, including 11-3 last season and 9-2 so far in 2019.
DEFENSIVE FORM
• Denver had not allowed a goal in the final 483 minutes before Selection Monday, outscoring opponents 14-0 in that span to end the 2018 regular season.
• Denver's defense allowed just 27 shots on goal in eight league contests a year ago, the best defensive record in the league.
• Overall, Denver's defense allowed 4.35 shots on goal per game, which led the Summit League in 2018.
• An All-Colorado Storm centerback pairing of
Cheyenne Shorts and
Taylor Parker played 20 of the 21 matches together last season, and every match together this season.
• Denver didn't allow a goal in the first 422 minutes of the season in 2019, and didn't allow a goal in the run of play until its sixth match of the season at Portland.
• The Pioneers held Drake, CSUN, Oral Roberts, Western Illinois, Omaha, Purdue Fort Wayne and North Dakota State to five shots or less, and Drake, Texas, Washington, UC Riverside, CSUN, Oral Roberts, Western Illinois, Omaha, South Dakota, Purdue Fort Wayne and North Dakota State to two shots on goal or less so far this season. Since turning Division I in 1998, Denver is 101-7-4 when holding an opponent to five shots or less and 113-4-5 when holding an opponent to two shots on goal or less.
• The Pioneers defense held opponents without a shot on goal for six-consecutive halves and two overtime periods from the second half of the Oral Roberts match to the first half of the South Dakota match. The stretch lasted just over 307 minutes of action without allowing a shot on goal.
• Since turning Division I in 1998, Denver has held 23 opponents without a shot on goal, including in Denver's 1-0 win over North Dakota State on Nov. 3.
• Denver has 12 shutouts this season, tied for the fifth most in Denver's Division I history and the most since 2013 (13).
• Denver is fifth in the country in shots on goal allowed, limiting opponents to just 47 shots on goal in the first 19 matches of the season.
LEAGUE TITLES
• With the victory against South Dakota State on Oct. 31, 2019, Denver claimed a share of its 10th NCAA Division I regular season league title, and its fourth in the Summit League (2013, 2016 and 2018)...The Pioneers won the regular season in their only year in the WAC (2012) and won five regular season titles in the Sun Belt (2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010).
• The Pioneers won their 10th league tournament title in their Division I history last year (Summit: 2013, 2017, 2018)...Denver won seven Sun Belt Conference Tournament Titles (2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
MAC IS BACK
• After recovering from an injury suffered leading up to last year's NCAA First Round match, sophomore
Camryn MacMillan has followed up her seven-goal season from a year ago with a pair of equalizers and a winner for the Crimson and Gold.
• MacMillan, who already scored the third-latest goal in regulation in Denver's Division I history this season at UC Riverside (89:52), put her name in the record books once again on October 17, scoring the ninth-fastest goal to start a match in DU history at Omaha (1:39).
KRISTEN HAMILTON EARNS FIRST CALL-UP TO U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM
• Former Pioneer All-American Kristen Hamilton earned a call-up on August 26 to the U.S. Women's National Team, the first of her career.
• Hamilton is Denver's all-time leader in points (138) and goals (51).
• The two matches in this call-up were both against Portugal, on August 29 and September 3. Hamilton earned her first cap on September 3.
• Hamilton is the only Division I student-athlete in any sport to be named a player of the year in three different conferences.
• Hamilton and the North Carolina Courage won a second-straight NWSL trophy on Oct. 27.
• Hamilton was the alumni guest speaker at the WSOC Banquet on November 3.
THE TWO Cs
• 18 student-athletes from Denver's 2018 roster come from either Colorado or California, including 14 that opted to stay in their home state for their college careers.
• Colorado and California are the only two states that more than two student-athletes call home (Minnesota only state with two).
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER SOCCER STADIUM
• The University of Denver Soccer Stadium opened in 2009.
• The 2,000 seat stadium hosts both the men's and women's soccer programs, and sits above the 10,000 square-foot Pat Bowlen Strength and Conditioning Complex.
• The stadium has hosted the 2009 MPSF Men's Soccer Tournament, 2014 Summit League Men's and Women's Championships and 2015, 2016 and 2018 men's tourn.
• DU Soccer Stadium has also hosted the 2012 and 2013 NCAA Women's Soccer First Round and the 2015, 2016 and 2018 NCAA Men's Soccer Second Round.
• Denver's women's program is 71-18-7 since the stadium opened.
• On October 10th, 2019, Denver played Western Illinois at the Diane Wendt Sports Complex, a match-up Denver won 3-0. Denver also played on DWSC Oct. 31 against SDSU, a match the Pioneers won 2-1.
• The September 21 double header that featured the men against No. 8 SMU and the women against [RV] Colorado drew 2,715 fans for Bark in the Park Night, a stadium record.
DENVER ATHLETICS SUCCESS
• Denver Athletics has claimed the I-AAA Directors' Cup in 11 of the last 12 seasons, for the top finish in the Directors' Cup standings amongst schools without football.
• The Pioneers have claimed 33 National Championships in their history (Skiing 24, Hockey 8, Men's Lacrosse 1).
• As an athletics department, Denver has recorded 70+ wins over Power-5 programs in each of the last three years, including five from men's soccer.
