Denver faced UC Irvine Thursday afternoon in first-round NCAA action at Pioneer Field. It was a defensive first 70 minutes before Denver found paydirt and broke the scoring drought. Kyle McGowan scored the game winner and Luke Schultz added an insurance goal three minutes later to send the Pioneers to the second round NCAA Tournament play.

In first half, the Anteaters set the tone early with a shot toward DU keeper Isaac Nehme. The Anteaters owned the most of the possessions and created several dangerous opportunities in the half. UCI took five shots and three corners, controlling the ball down the wings as neither team wanted to allow a defensive error in the first half. Both sides were unable to create a shot-on-goal in the first forty-five minutes.

DU was more aggressive to open the second half but neither UCI nor DU could put together a final combination to find the scoresheet. By the midway point of the second half, neither team had generated a shot-on-goal. The field began to tilt toward the Anteaters as the half wore on. However, the Pioneers began to control midfield, Denver controlled the ball at midfield and swung the ball to Bryce Willoughby on the right flank. Willoughby fed the ball into the low box. DU’s Kyle McGowan took the feed in traffic and directed the ball into the cage, 1-0 DU. Three minutes later, DU pushed the ball into the box again as Keegan Kelly found Luke Schultz. Schultz dribbled through the box. Schultz rifled a shot over keeper Joe O’Shaughnessy’s head, 2-0. That was all Denver needed on their three shots-on-goal for the match. Final score, 2-0.

Next up for DU is a second round tilt and rematch at Portland on November 23rd. The Pioneers fell, 3-2, to the Pilots back in September.