The aspen leaves are turning vibrant yellow and orange and the air is getting a little chillier, which means we’re in the middle of fall sports season at the University of Denver.
The regular season is well underway for men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s triathlon and women’s volleyball, and while different teams are at different rates of progress, each team is looking to achieve their goals and stand out among the competition.
Whether it’s on the pitch, court or course, here’s what you may have missed and what to look out for during the remainder of Denver’s fall sports season.
Men’s Soccer
The DU men’s soccer team is off to a strong start to the season and has no plans to slow down.
Denver (5-0-4) is the No. 1 team in the country for the second straight week in the Top Drawer Football rankings. DU begins conference play on Oct. 2 after a 10-day break.
The last time DU topped the Top Drawer Soccer poll was in October 2018. The team recorded its 100th career win on Sunday with a 2-1 win at home against Seattle.
Head coach Jamie Franks believes the team’s depth — more specifically, the team’s 13 returning players and 11 seniors — is one of the reasons for the team’s success in the regular season and beyond.
“Anyone who wins a spot on the first team has to do it at a very high level, with high standards and very positive behavior every day, otherwise someone in that position is creating internal competition,” Franks says.
Franks also praised the team’s off-field efforts and investment in DU’s 4D Experience. Last season, the program finished fifth in the 2023-24 NCAA Division I men’s soccer class in average GPA (3.62), just 0.12 behind national leader, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
DU has ranked in the top three in the country in academic standings for the past eight consecutive seasons.
The next game you can watch will be on Oct. 2 when DU opens its Summit League season at home against Oral Roberts.
Women’s Soccer
Coach Julian Sych is hopeful that the big strides his team made in the offseason will pay off, and so far it has paid off: The women’s soccer program has won six non-conference games, which is tied for the fifth-most wins in program history and the most since 2013.
Now in his second year at the helm of the program, Sitch has grown both as a leader and a learner.
“I think I learned a lot as a person and as a coach (in my first season at DU), but also trying to make myself coachable,” Sych said. “Just like I expect my team to be coachable, I have to hold myself to the same standards and have a growth mindset.”
The team (6-4-0) opens conference play tonight at Kansas City before returning to Denver to face North Dakota on Sept. 29.
Ultimately, Sych wants the team to be known for its integrity and character on and off the field.
“I think when people meet us, they see us as a positive team, a team that wants to leave a legacy, a team that inspires and makes an impact in the community,” Sych said.
Women’s Triathlon
The women’s triathlon team narrowly missed out on a podium at last year’s national championships but is aiming to finish in the top three this season.
Barbara Perkins, entering her fifth season as the program’s first head coach, considers the team’s depth one of its strongest assets.
“I think we’ve been the underdogs the past few years, and we really want to prove ourselves. We’re recruiting people that we can develop and make into better athletes and people,” she said.
The team features notable players at all levels, including freshmen Beatrice Normand and Ava Plouffe, sophomores Alex Campbell and Myra Carrow, and seniors Olivia Ebenstein, Avary Faulkner and Clara Normand.
In addition to off-season training, Clara Normand, a journalism and international studies major, was the first student with the team to study abroad. During her trip to Morocco last spring, she had the opportunity to interview residents of a small mountain village that survived a devastating earthquake in September 2023.
After winning his first individual national title at DU Triathlon last season, Carrow has been busy this summer and early fall competing all over the world, and earlier this month he won his second consecutive Canadian National Championship, finishing 19th at the World Triathlon Cup race in Valencia, Spain.
The sophomore has seen her swimming grow significantly since she began competitively at age 6, especially at the collegiate level.
“I’m really grateful (to be able to compete at the collegiate level) and I’m going to do everything I can to help grow the sport and get it out there,” Carrow said.
Women’s Volleyball
The girls volleyball team is also hoping to build on the success of last season and coach Megan Pendergast, who joined the team last year.
“We have to find the next gear, and it’s been a journey helping them find it. We’re still in the middle of it, but it’s been a lot of fun,” Pendergast says.
Denver went 12-4 in conference play last year and won its first Summit League regular-season title since 2020.
Fifth-year player Molly Mirabelli, who was recognized by the conference as one of the team’s two “Rising Stars,” was named Summit League Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 17 for the first time in her career.
After finishing their non-conference schedule 5-5, the team opens Summit League play tonight against South Dakota at Hamilton Gymnasium.
“The goal is always to see how well we do against the Denver volleyball team. There will be wins and losses, but we’re really trying to focus on how we play on our side of the net,” Pendergast said.
