#1 Denver men’s soccer (6-0-4, 1-0) opened Summit League play Wednesday night against Oral Roberts (4-3-3, 1-1) with a 3-2 victory at Pioneer Field.
Despite a 10-day break between their victory over Seattle and this game, the Pioneers didn’t miss a beat and dominated play early. DU’s Ronan Wynne scored in the 27th minute and DU took the 1-0 lead to halftime. The Golden Eagles had no shots for the half while DU had 7 shots with only Wynne’s on target. The Golden Eagles bunkered in during the half, playing just to stay in contact with the top-ranked Pioneers.
Nothing like a little pinball followed by a little gymnastics. Ronan Wynne out here making @DU_Gymnastics proud.#GoPios pic.twitter.com/5HtLl4w3lI
— Denver MSoccer (@DU_MSoccer) October 3, 2024
Five minutes into the second half Trevor Wright finished into the right side of the cage, 2-0, to create some breathing room for Denver. Jason Belloli and Ian Smith assisted on the tally.
Ian Smith -> Belloli -> Wright -> Twine -> 2-0#GoPios pic.twitter.com/7Wq5R0UJYt
— Denver MSoccer (@DU_MSoccer) October 3, 2024
13 minutes later, ORU’s Benjamin Morgan buried a shot past DU keeper Isaac Nehme to pull the visitors back to within one at 2-1. But DU’s Oje Ofunrein restored order in the 79th minute with a laser, high into the left corner, 3-1.
ORU responded again, though. Luis Flores quickly responded and buried a goal to narrow the margin to a goal, 3-2 with 9 minutes left. DU protected the lead the rest of the way, though, and left Pioneer Field with a 3-2 win to bank three points in the Summit opener.
DU dominated on shots (14-7), shots-on-goal (4-3), and corners (11-3). Next up for Denver is St. Thomas at Pioneer Field Saturday at 1:00 pm.
Great team, great results so far, but living a bit more on the edge than a #1 team should. Let’s call us top 10, and leave it at that. Impressive gymnastics celebration, BTW. GO DU!!