On a sun-drenched December Saturday afternoon, #3 seed Denver Men’s Soccer (14-3-4) faced the UMass-Amherst Minutemen at Pioneer Field in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals. A standing-room-only crowd sat, perched, and stood around Pioneer Field to witness a nearly flawless, 3-0 DU victory which earned DU its second-ever College Cup berth.
The first five minutes featured a hard press by UMass-Amherst on DU. That was the best the visitors could muster, though, as DU took control of the match in the 8th minute when DU took a corner from Sam Bassett and found Jason Belloli at the back post to beat goalie Alex Geczy, 1-0. Denver had a stranglehold on the match and then doubled its lead in the 41st minute when Ian Smith and Ian Welch combined on a beautiful diving Ronan Wynne header in the box that found the lower right corner of the goal for a 2-0 lead which carried into halftime.
Denver opened the second half on the front foot. Dylan Akau and Keegan Kelly fed a streaking Oje Ofunrein in the Minuteman box and Oje beat Geczy for the third and final goal of the match. The Minutemen were already good and beaten as Ofrunrein finally found the back of the net after creating numerous problems for them all day long. Denver goalie Isaac Nehme secured another clean sheet, three for three in his NCAA Tournament appearances this season, as he defended three shots on goal and did an excellent job organizing the Pioneers’ back line and distributing the ball.
Denver generated seven shots on goal for the day and six corner kicks against the Minutemen. Denver doubled up the visitors on corner kicks 6-3. Next up is a well-earned trip to the College Cup in Cary, N.C. Denver will take on the Vermont Catamounts (15-2-5, 4-1-2), who upset the #2 seed Pitt Panthers today, in the NCAA semifinal match next Friday. If Denver ends yet another Cinderella team’s bid, they will play in the NCAA Championship match the following Monday at 6:00 pm MT.
Great crowd and DU was dominant! We talked with a soccer Dad and he said the team pays for the drummer that keeps the game exciting.
AWESOME! GO DU!!
A historic, epic home performance from the Pioneers – certainly the greatest home game in the history of the DU soccer program before a record crowd of 2,300+ that packed the stadium grandstand, and had excess SRO fans watching from the top of Barton stadium next door and from the hill of the tennis courts.
I think as a DU team built around Colorado players, this was a real celebration gathering of the local soccer community. Parents, family, friends, dreaming youth players, and even the Colorado Rapids braintrust were all in the house to experience the program’s best Colorado moment together in the sunshine of a warm Denver winter day.
The Pios did their part perfectly, scoring early and often, and the Mineutemen never had a chance. So proud of what Jamie Franks has done with this program, how they went about earming that three seed and how they put on a great show in the final game on the home field.
Now, it’s on to Cary, NC and a chance for even greater NCAA glory! Go Pios!
It has been a great couple of weekends for DU soccer. Hopefully DU fans recognize what a remarkable achievement it is, especially for a small school, to make it to the final four, beating and drawing with massive programs over the course of the season. The 2016 team that made it to the final four was excellent, too. But this feels less like a Cinderella run. DU does, and should, feel like they can win it all this year. Especially after dispatching Indiana and UMass in convincing fashion, not allowing a single goal in two games. Ohio State is formidable, and Vermont cannot be taken lightly whatsoever. But DU can do this, let’s goooooooo!!!!!
I’ll tell coach if they pay my airfare, I’ll be the drummer 🥁 in Cary, N.C.