Members of the UMSL women’s soccer team saw their season come to an end with a 2-0 loss to No. 3 seed Grand Valley State Friday morning in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Championship. (Photo by Luke Rinne/UMSL Athletics)

Women’s Soccer
The University of Missouri–St. Louis women’s soccer team fell 2-0 to No. 3 seed Grand Valley State in its first NCAA Division II Tournament game since 2016. The sixth-seeded Tritons couldn’t get on the board despite outshooting the Lakers 13-11 with an 8-6 edge in shots on goal during the first-round match Friday morning at Maryville University. Kendall Aikens put UMSL in a 1-0 hole in the 25th minute when she took a pass from Alli French at the top of the 18-yard box and curled a shot into the top corner. Grand Valley State’s Taylor Reid scored the second goal in the 56th minute with a shot inside the near post from just beyond the 6-yard box. Goalkeeper Mary Kate Neal made four saves to keep the Tritons within striking distance, but they couldn’t get the ball past Cailyn Junk, who had eight saves for the Lakers. UMSL ends its season 14-4-3 after making their fifth NCAA tournament appearance and winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship for the first time in program history. The 14 wins are tied for third most in a single season in school history.

Volleyball
The 22nd-ranked Tritons dropped their opening match in the GLVC Championship, losing to No. 3 seed Lewis 25-19, 19-25, 16-25, 25-14, 17-15 in Friday’s quarterfinal at the Williamsville Fieldhouse in Williamsville, Illinois. The Tritons fought off a pair of match points in the decisive set, but Bella Ray’s 18th kill of the match snapped a 15-15 tie and put the Flyers in position to win the match when Natalie Stefanski and Gracie Schultz blocked UMSL’s outside hitter Alayna Santel, the GLVC Freshman of the Year. Lewis went on to knock off seventh-seeded Indianapolis and fourth-seeded Rockhurst in four sets in the semifinals and final, respectively, to secure its fourth consecutive conference tournament title and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Tritons must wait until the NCAA Selection Show on Monday evening to learn if they will receive an at-large bid for the fifth straight year. UMSL, which lost in the national semifinals each of the past two seasons, was seventh in the latest Midwest Regional rankings. Maggie Johnson finished with a team-high 18 kills in Friday’s loss. Santel had 15, and middle blocker Hannah Copeland had 10 to go with a team-best four blocks. Setter Caitlin Bishop had 54 assists against Lewis, but the Tritons only hit .184 in the match. Skylar Weaver finished with a match-high 35 digs.

Women’s Basketball
Strong second and third quarters propelled UMSL to 72-58 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan on Friday at the Mark Twain Athletic Center. The Tritons trailed 18-13 at the end of the first quarter as the Panthers outscored them 18-4 in the final 5 minutes, 40 seconds, but they regained the upper hand by outscoring Kentucky Wesleyan 20-11 in the second period and 21-13 in the third. Kate Rolfes contributed to a 9-0 second-quarter run with a 3-pointer that put UMSL back in front, and she went on to score a game-high 20 points, shooting 6 for 11 from 3-point range. Morgan Ramthun ignited a 10-0 run in the third quarter after the visitors had climbed back within two points. Ramthun finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The Tritons shot 17 for 30 in the middle two periods and held Kentucky Wesleyan to 8-for-26 shooting during the same timeframe. UMSL held the Panthers to 38% shooting overall and finished with a 42-23 rebounding advantage. The Tritons (3-1) have won two straight and will visit Purdue Northwest on Tuesday before opening GLVC play at Illinois Springfield on Saturday.

Men’s Basketball
The Tritons lost a pair of games against Top 25 teams in last week’s McKendree DII Classic, falling to No. 22 Lake Superior State 59-46 on Thursday and losing to No. 23 Alabama-Huntsville 74-63 on Friday at Melvin Price Convocation Center in Lebanon, Illinois. UMSL was held under 40% shooting in both games, making only 21 of 61 field-goal attempts against the Lakers and going 24 for 61 from the field against the Chargers. Troy Glover II and Savon Wykle were the only Tritons players to crack double figures on Thursday, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Matt Enright had a team-high 15 points in Friday’s loss, and Wykle and KC Udolisa each had 12 points, but UMSL shot 7 for 24 from 3-point range. Hunter Soper scored 21 points and made 5 of 6 3-pointers for Lake Superior State. Tommy Murr led Alabama-Huntsville with 23 points. The Tritons (0-5) are still looking for their first victory of the season as they get set to open GLVC play on Saturday at Illinois Springfield in their only game of the week.

Men’s and Women’s Swimming
UMSL’s swimming teams achieved 17 B-standard times and established four school records over three days of racing in the IU Indy House of Champions, held Thursday through Saturday in Indianapolis. The men’s team finished eighth in an 11-team field with 610 points while the women were 11th out of 13 teams with 269 points. The women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Kate Nelson, Madison Bottorff, Romina Itzkovich and Audrey Lantz posted the first B-standard of the meet while finishing seventh Thursday in a time of 1 minutes, 33.56 seconds. Justice Beard won the B-Final and finished ninth overall in the 500 freestyle with a B-standard and school record time of 4:54.75, Nelson won the C-Final in the 50 free with a school record and B-Standard time of 23.45. Hendrik Bechtel placed fifth in the men’s 500 free with a B-standard time of 4:29.29. Aaron Wicklund and Conley Savage finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 200 individual medley with a times of 1:50.28 and 1:49.15, both good for B-standards. David Reynolds won the B-Final of the 50 free with a B-standard time of 20.24. Savage and Wicklund each picked up B-standard times on Friday as well with Conley placing sixth in the 100-yard butterfly in 48.40 and Wicklund taking sixth in the 400 individual medley in 3:56.03. Beard also hit a B-Standard when she finished seventh in the B-final of the 200 free with a time of 1:52.84. The Tritons closed out the weekend strong with seven more B-standards on Saturday. Savage had the highest finish of the night when he came in second in the 200 fly at 1:47.62, while Mattia Nardi took sixth with a B-standard time of 1:49.29. Wicklund set a school record and earned a B-standard time when he third in the 200 individual medley in 2:00.59. Bechtel finished 10th in the 1,650 free with a B-standard time of 15:56.70, and Reynolds earned B-standard in the 100 free while finishing third in 45.13 seconds. On the women’s side, Beard led the way with a fourth-place showing in the 1,650 free with a B-standard time of 16:52.87, and Nelson broke the school record in the 100 free, finishing 10th overall and second in the B-final with a B-standard time of 50.93 seconds. The Tritons will next compete Dec. 7 when it welcomes Quincy for a dual meet at the UMSL Swimming Pool.