#1 Rivalry In Mean Green Sports

MeanGreen61 · October 20, 2005

Soccer: Renowned rivalry

UNT-Denver grudge match rates No. 1 in all of Mean Green sports

08:52 AM CDT on Thursday, October 20, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Of all the goals Kristen Campbell has scored during her North Texas career, it was one of the first that stands out.

Campbell was a freshman in 2003 when she took a pass from Marilyn Marin with 24 seconds left in double overtime and slipped the ball into the goal to give UNT a win over a Denver team that was ranked No. 20 nationally.

“The seniors clued us in on how big of a match that was,” Campbell said. “It was surreal to score in that situation. It’s still my favorite goal.”

The Mean Green’s upset win that night is just one of several great moments in the UNT-Denver series that has developed into arguably the greatest rivalry in Mean Green sports. UNT and Denver have met in the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament three times and combined to win the last four tournament titles. Either UNT or Denver has won or shared the last four regular season Sun Belt titles.

A new chapter will be added to the series at 7 p.m. Friday at the Mean Green Soccer Complex when UNT faces Denver at home for the first time since Campbell’s game-winning goal two years ago.

The Mean Green have a few other rivalries, including one with Middle Tennessee in football, but none quite measure up to the UNT-Denver soccer grudge match that the Pioneers lead 5-3-1.

“I don’t think there is any question that this is one of the better rivalries that we have,” UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “It’s an intense fight every year because it is either North Texas or Denver that wins the conference title in a league that traditionally only gets one NCAA Tournament bid. I think everyone in the league looks to this game.”

This season’s game will be no different, even though the circumstances surrounding the game have changed slightly.

UNT and Denver are sitting atop the Sun Belt Conference standings as usual, but the Pioneers have failed to keep pace with the Mean Green during a torrid start.

UNT (11-2-2) is in the midst of a 13-game unbeaten streak that ranks as the third longest in the nation and is 6-0 in Sun Belt play. The Mean Green are ranked No. 36 nationally by topdrawersoccer.com.

Denver (7-6-2, 4-1-1) was stunned by Arkansas State, 2-0, in its last game and also suffered a double overtime tie against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Those setbacks have left UNT in position to take a commanding lead in the race for the conference title with just two games left in the regular season.

“It really shook up things in the conference when Denver lost,” UNT senior defender Misty Cordon said. “We were not expecting that at all.”

The Mean Green needed a few unexpected performances of their own to turn the tide in the series that was dominated by Denver early on.

Campbell’s game-winner in 2003 broke the Pioneers’ three-game winning streak in the series. Denver appeared as if it would regain control of the rivalry when the Pioneers knocked off the Mean Green in the 2003 conference tournament finals and in the teams’ 2004 regular season meeting.

UNT finally broke through for its first win over Denver in the Sun Belt Tournament last year with a stunning 3-0 victory in the semifinals. The Mean Green had lost three straight in the postseason to Denver.

“It was huge for us to win in the conference tournament last year,” UNT coach John Hedlund said. “They had always been a thorn in our side, but last year we had the better team and took it to them. That just made the rivalry stronger.”

The Mean Green went on to beat Florida International in the tournament finals and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

“When they beat us last year it made the rivalry more intense for our girls,” Denver coach Jeff Hooker said. “UNT has improved as a team over the years. John has also become a better coach.”

While both programs have gone through up and down cycles over the years, Hedlund and Hooker believe the UNT-Denver rivalry will have staying power because of the talent in their school’s immediate areas.

The Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver regions have both produced players who have ranked among the Sun Belt’s best. UNT forward and Fort Worth Western Hills graduate Heather Hutyra ranks fourth nationally with 16 goals. All but one of UNT’s starters is from Texas.

Lleane Grimditch was the Preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year and leads Denver with six goals. The junior is one of 15 players from Colorado on the Pioneers’ roster.

“Both teams get good players out of their area and have been able to build solid rosters,” Hooker said. “The rivalry has become which city has the better players, Dallas or Denver.”

The history of the UNT-Denver series shows that there is no telling which team might have better players until they square off in a unique rivalry game.

“It’s what we look forward to,” Cordon said. “This game is how we measure ourselves in the conference.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

The UNT-DU series

There might not be a better rivalry in North Texas athletics than the Mean Green soccer team’s series with

Denver. The following is a look back.

2000

UNT 0, Denver 0

Notable — The series began with a tie after both teams joined the Sun Belt

2001

UNT 2, Denver 1

Denver 2, UNT 1

Notable — UNT won in the regular

season, but Denver exacted revenge

in the finals of the Sun Belt Tourney.

2002

Denver 6, UNT 1

Denver 3, UNT 0

Notable — Denver dominated both games and knocked off UNT in the Sun Belt Tourney finals.

2003

UNT 3, Denver 2 (2OT)

Denver 1, UNT 0 (OT)

Notable — Kristen Campbell scored the game-winner in perhaps the greatest contest in the history of the series in the regular season, but Denver won in the Sun Belt Tourney finals for the third straight year.

2004

Denver 3, UNT 0

UNT 3, Denver 0

Notable — Denver dominated in the regular season, but UNT cruised in the Sun Belt Tourney semifinals and went on to advance to the NCAA Tourney for the first time in school history.

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