WHO: [2] Denver (11-5-2, 5-1-2 Summit) vs. [3] South Dakota State (13-4-2, 5-2-1 Summit)
WHAT: 2024 Summit League semifinals
WHERE: Dacotah Field (Fargo, N.D.)
WHEN: Thursday, November 7, at 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver closed the 2024 regular season with a 2-0 win at South Dakota on October 27, securing the No. 2 seed for the Summit League tournament. Redshirt sophomore
Hannah Tate scored what would be the game winner – the first of her career – in the 20
th minute, and sophomore
Michaela McGowan added a second Denver score in the 71
st. Three more Pioneers logged points in the match: sophomore
Liv Moritz, senior
Jadyn Goodrich and freshman
Megan Murray.
Sophomore
Molly Wissman collected her fourth clean sheet of the year and the 10
th of her career.
QUICK HITS:
- Denver is 10-1-6 all-time in the Summit League tournament, winning the title four times and appearing in the final another three times.
- DU has only lost once in regulation during the tournament. Every other time that the Pioneers have been bounced from the field came in a penalty shootout including in the last two seasons.
- Thursday will be the eighth time Denver has played at a neutral site in the Summit League tournament and the first since the 2020 semifinals against South Dakota (a 2-0 win for DU in Omaha, Neb.).
- DU is a top-two seed for the tournament for the 10th time in its first 12 seasons in the Summit League.
- The last time Denver was the No. 2 seed was the 2018 season when DU won the title off 3-0 and 4-0 wins in the semifinal and final, respectively.
- All-time in the Summit League tournament, Denver has outscored its opponents, 35-12, and earned nine clean sheets.
SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS:
South Dakota State staged a come-from-behind 2-1 overtime win over South Dakota at home in the Summit League quarterfinals on November 1. The match was scoreless at halftime before USD scored the opener in the 54
th minute. SDSU's Katherine Jones netted the late equalizer in the 86
th minute to force extra time before Kaycee Manding scored just 14 seconds into the second overtime frame.
SDSU is the No. 3 seed for this year's Summit League tournament and is Denver's most common tournament opponent. The teams have met four times previously with three of the matches ending in a penalty shootout.
DU and SDSU have only once played in a neutral-site match: the 2016 Summit League semifinals also in Fargo in which the match ended in a 1-1 draw before the Jackrabbits advanced on PKs, 4-2.
Denver won this year's regular-season meeting between the teams, earning DU's first-ever road victory at SDSU in a 2-1 victory on October 24.
WHAT'S NEXT:
The other Summit League semifinal features No. 1 seed North Dakota State versus No. 5 seed Oral Roberts at 3:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, November 7. The two semifinal winners will meet in the 2024 Summit League final on Sunday, November 10, at 1 p.m. CT/12 p.m. MT.
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