In Brazil they call soccer ‘the beautiful game‘. However, it can be a cruel game too, with paper-thin margins. #3 Denver was the best team (statistically) on the field Friday night in the College Cup semifinal between the Pioneers and Vermont Catamounts but it was not to be for Denver men’s soccer in Cary, North Carolina. A crossbar shot, a missed first-half Catamounts handball in the box, a close non-offside call on Vermont’s only regulation goal and numerous missed scoring chances by the Pioneers led to the deciding penalty shots. That is not to say Vermont did not have chances of their own, particularly in the second half of the match, as both sides created scoring opportunities to end the match in regulation. Shootouts are a game of roulette and Denver came up short.
The first half started with early pressure from Denver. The Pioneers controlled the pace of play, initiating offense, mostly, down their right wing. The Pioneers created three scoring chances but came up empty-handed. Denver nearly got on the board early when a Trevor Wright shot caught the crossbar on a shot in the box in the 39th minute. At the sixteen-minute mark, a dangerous header from Oje Ofunrein slipped two feet left of the Catamounts goal. In the 11th minute, DU’s Ian Welch blasted a shot from the top of the box but the ball found UVM keeper Niklas Herceg. For the half, UVM got off one shot. DU got off seven shots, one on target but the frame ended 0-0.
In the second half, Vermont and Denver started to split possessions more evenly with a slide edge to the Pioneers. Ronan Wynne and Sam Bassett both had good looks in the first fifteen minutes of the half. Following an Isaac Nehme stop, Sam Bassett finally got DU on the board. It was a beautiful bending seeing-eye shot from the left flank that found the upper right corner to make it 1-0. The shot escaped the out-reached arms of goalie Herceg. Denver kept pushing the ball but UVM started to earn possession and chances, too. The Catamounts sailed a point-blank shot over Nehme with fourteen minutes left.
But then, Vermont’s leading scorer, Yaniv Bazini, evened the score on the break with seven minutes remaining in the match. He broke free in the box and beat Isaac Nehme, 1-1, to even the game in regulation. The referee looked at video replays for possible offsides and signaled a good goal. When the broadcast finally showed a helpful angle, it was clear that the play was onside and the goal was, indeed, good. In the second half, Denver got off 10 shots in the period to 9 for the Catamounts while Denver earned 4 corner kicks to UVM’s 1.
The match went to overtime, tied 1-1, with the first team to score ‘the Golden Goal’ a winner. The two ten-minute overtime periods were largely controlled by DU but the Pioneers could never find the back of the net. The best chance for DU came when Oje Ofunrein almost scored on a header in the box which fell just two feet wide of the cage, with a little more than a minute remaining in the second overtime period.
Unfortunately, it was all Vermont in PKs. Vermont was perfect on their chances while Ben Smith’s and Trevor Wright’s shots were saved and missed the mark, respectively.
The stinging loss ends an outstanding season for Denver, finishing 15-3-5. Pioneer Nation hurts tonight, but when the sting finally subsides, everyone will be able to look back fondly on an incredible season with a memorable run back to the College Cup for the first time since 2016.
I appreciate the coverage of DU soccer this year.
First off, awesome season!!! The team made DU fans very proud. What a great team, and their NCAA tournament wins at home before large crowds will be a nice memory for everyone.
I may have had a doubt or two over the course of the season as to whether DU deserved its top ranking, but they certainly convinced me as they went. After seeing their 3 NCAA games, I’m convinced that they are the best team in the country. (And so exceptionally well coached.) Really impressed with #2 and his creation of chances from runs up the right side.
But the season’s success unfortunately makes this loss sting more. The missed handball in the first half and the egregious lack of a video review hurts. Things in DU’s control also hurt, particularly the missed headers off of excellent crosses. You have to put one of those in, and they didn’t. Allowing the UVM guy to get behind the DU line to score was a mistake. But good goal scorers like that tend to have excellent timing to get open for chances. So I give the dude credit. But it seemed like the one defensive mistake that DU made all tournament, and at a bad time. DU controlled the play for a large portion of the game, so they had to win it in regular time. I lacked confidence going into PK’s. DU’S goalie is excellent, but he doesn’t exactly fill the net with a massive frame.
Great season, great coaching, and a painful loss because DU really should have won it all. DU must keep this momentum going so we get another bite at the apple, not ten years from now, but in the next 3-4 years. Big confidence in coach Franks to get us back. Thanks for a great season, Pios!
Hell of a season. Gut-wrenching to see it end this way, but that’s part of the game. Congrats to Franks and the team on an amazing run!
Gut-wrenching loss for the Pios in a game in which DU was clearly the better team and deserved to win, but for a two- second mistake that sunk their whole season. DU center back Jason Belloli will see UVM’s Yaniv Barzini’s jersey cutting behind him with six minutes left, and converting that long aerial pass past Nehme for the rest of his life.
Soccer really is the cruelest of all sports…Gutted for the Pios, who left it all on the field. Unfortunately, with all the seniors DU had on the field yesterday, another College Cup appearance seems like a dream deferred…
DU hockey should schedule Vermont next season…and kick their collective butts back to the Green Mountains (which really aren’t much more than glorified foothills)