The University of Denver women’s lacrosse team will face four of the nation’s top 20 teams from last season on its 2010 schedule: No. 4 North Carolina, No. 5 Duke, No. 13 Stanford and No. 13 Loyola (Maryland).
The Pioneers will play nine of their 17 games at home at Barton Lacrosse Stadium and will host the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, which begins April 29. The tournament winner plays the Atlantic-10 Conference winner for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“We have created a challenging schedule that should help our young team develop as we head into the MPSF Tournament,” coach Liza Kelly said.
DU opens with four straight games on the road, including a trip to North Carolina in February to face the Tar Heels, the national runners-up last season, and the Blue Devils.
The home schedule begins with Stony Brook on Feb. 18. DU faces MPSF foe Stanford on April 11.
DU soccer games postponed.
The Denver men’s and women’s soccer games scheduled for tonight have been postponed because of the snowstorm.
The women’s game against North Texas is rescheduled for Saturday at noon. The makeup date for the men’s match against Seattle is yet to be determined.
Player of the week roundup.
Air Force senior goalkeeper David Ostrom was named the Western Water Polo Association player of the week, the first such honor of his career.
Ostrom posted 49 saves last weekend to lead the Falcons to a 2-2 record at The Rodeo, hosted by Santa Clara. He had 12 saves and an assist in an overtime win vs. No. 13 Cal-Davis, then put up 20 saves, two steals and a helper in another overtime victory over Brown. Ostrom is now third on the AFA career save list with 623.
• Colorado Mines senior forward Jeff Nelson was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men’s soccer offensive player of the week after scoring two goals, with an assist, in a win over Colorado- Colorado Springs and the game-winning goal in a win over CSU-Pueblo.
Regis goalkeeper Wally Fink got the defensive honor after posting a shutout of Mesa State and recording eight saves in a loss to No. 4 Fort Lewis.
• Kayla Mitchell of Colorado Mines got the women’s offensive RMAC award for setting school single- game records for points and goals after scoring four times in a win over CSU-Pueblo. It was Mitchell’s fifth hat trick of the season.
Orediggers teammate Briana Schulze took home the defensive award for posting shutouts over CSU-Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands. Schulze has seven shutouts this season.
• Laura Brodie of Colorado-Colorado Springs won the RMAC volleyball offensive player of the week award after recording 18 kills with a .643 hitting percentage in a win over Mines. The Mountain Lions have won eight straight, and Brodie is hitting .464 during the streak.
Fort Collins teen sweeps podium.
Reilly Boyt, a Fort Collins middle-schooler, won gold, silver and two bronze medals in swimming at the Para Pan American Games in Bogota, Colombia, her first international competition.
Boyt, a dwarf, won a gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke, a silver in the 200 individual medley and bronzes in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Boyt plans to swim in the Canadian-American Games in Houston this summer with a long-range goal of qualifying for the 2012 Paralympics in London.
