Denver Men’s Soccer (2-9-2, 0-2-1 Summit League) find themselves in an unusual position following a Saturday 1-0 OT loss to Oral Roberts on the road. They may miss their own hosted Summit League tournament unless they win their next two games against Omaha and Fort Wayne. Currently, Denver is mired near the bottom of the standings with Eastern Illinois (0-1-2) and Purdue Fort Wayne (0-3-0). DU must pass both teams in the next two games to finish in fourth place and qualify for the conference tournament in Denver from November 14th-16th. By any measure, this would be a shocking result. Continue reading Final Fall Stretch Features Optimism and Desperation
Category Archives: Men’s Soccer
2019 DU Grad Andre Shinyashiki Wins MLS Rookie-of-the-Year with Colorado Rapids
Andre Shinyashiki had the last laugh.
Snubbed for the NCAA’s Hermann Trophy last season despite scoring the most goals (28) in an NCAA season in more than 20 years, Andre didn’t pout. He just graduated from the University of Denver and took his talents across town to Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids, where he went out and won the 2019 MLS Rookie of the Year Award. Continue reading 2019 DU Grad Andre Shinyashiki Wins MLS Rookie-of-the-Year with Colorado Rapids
DU Men Escape With Lucky 2-1 Victory Over University of the Pacific Tigers
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Denver’s Bailey Heller (#4 at left) scored his first college goal with 10 minutes left in the game — the game-winner against Pacific, and earned a joyous celebration from his DU teammates. Photo: Jason Evans for LetsGoDU
Sometimes, the Soccer Gods can be cruel to our opponents, too.
In a very ugly defensive game that Denver frankly didn’t deserve to win, the Pioneers were able to do just enough on a pair of set pieces to sneak away with a 2-1 victory over the gutty and spirited University of the Pacific Tigers, before just over 500 fans at DU Soccer Stadium on this sunny October 6th afternoon.
DU redshirt Sophomore Bailey Heller’s half-volley game-winning goal in the 80th minute provided the thin margin of victory and the DU win was only the third in this brutal season to date. The Pioneers (3-6-2) were badly outplayed for much of the game by Pacific (3-7-1) from the West Coast Conference, who controlled the possession all afternoon, and outshot DU, 13-7 in the first-ever soccer game between the two schools. Continue reading DU Men Escape With Lucky 2-1 Victory Over University of the Pacific Tigers
Weekend featured scoring drought, solid nonconference finale, and road split
The greatest surprise of the fall season has been DU men’s soccer (1-5-2) scoring just four goals in nine matches. At this pace, at the end of the regular season, they will be sitting with 9 goals, well below their 10-year 30.7 goals per season average. The two lowest-scoring seasons in the last ten years have been 2009 and 2017 when the Pioneers found net 25 times. And, last season behind Andre Shinyashiki’s 28 goals, Denver had their highest goal output. Saturday’s 0-0 draw against conference foe Eastern Illinois leaves the Pioneers 0-0-1 in Summit League regular season play. Continue reading Weekend featured scoring drought, solid nonconference finale, and road split
Denver Shoots, But Can’t Score in 0-0 Draw with Eastern Illinois
As DU has found out this season, the Soccer Gods can be cruel.
There were 632 fans watching at DU soccer stadium on this sunny Saturday afternoon, but most of them went home disappointed as the Pioneers could not manage to score a goal on a depleted Eastern Illinois team, as DU tied the Panthers, 0-0 in the Summit League opener for both teams.
DU dominated the game, taking 27 shots, with eight of them on goal and earning 64% ball possession, with EIU only managing 3 shots and none of them on goal. But alas, with only a total of four Denver goals scored in the eight DU games played so far this season, the Pioneers’ offensive inability to finish killed DU’s chances for a victory once again.
“We need more urgency from this group,” said DU head coach Jamie Franks of his team after the game to Pioneer Vision. “Only 38 more days of this season is guaranteed…We need our leaders to step-up, and we need everyone to step-up…We need to score goals.”
With the draw, DU fell to 1-5-2 on the season, while EIU fell to 3-3-1.
Some of the Pioneers’ best chances came late as DU pushed extra hard for a game-winner in overtime, as DU took all 10 shots in the extra sessions, including a header from junior Josh Drack that hit the EIU crossbar.
The Panthers, who played most of the latter 50 minutes of game time with 10 men and also had a second player red-carded in the 86th minute to play with nine men for the final 24 minutes, hung-on gamely to achieve the draw with the more talented Pioneers. The Panthers were led by eight saves from redshirt Sophomore goalie Jonathan Burke.
DU now faces another travel stretch, with five of its next six games coming on the road as the Pioneers try put themselves into position to finish in the top four in the Summit League in order to play in the League tournament here in Denver in November.
DU will jump on a plane to face a different Panther team next, as the Pioneers travel to the University of Pittsburgh (ACC) for a Monday night game.
Weekend featured amazing win, heartbreaking losses as conference schedules loom
DU’s Fall teams returned home this past weekend with mixed results. Women’s soccer (3-4-1) was coming off three straight road losses and fell 2-0 to the Colorado Buffaloes at home. Men’s soccer (1-5-1) also returned to CIBER Field for their home opener needing a confidence-building win against #8 SMU – and fell in a gut-wrenching 2-1 OT loss. Women’s volleyball (8-4) had dropped three consecutive matches, all on the road, but won a 5-set barn burner in Hamilton Gym against Santa Clara on Friday night and cruised by Montana the next day in three straight games. Continue reading Weekend featured amazing win, heartbreaking losses as conference schedules loom
Pioneer Soccer Upset Bid Falters Late in 2-1 Loss to #8 SMU Mustangs in Overtime
This loss will be one the University of Denver Pioneer Men’s Soccer team will remember for a long time as eighth-ranked Southern Methodist University foiled DU’s late upset bid, ripping out the Pioneers’ heart with a game-tying goal in the final 2 minutes, then flat-out eating the Pioneers’ heart with a game-winner in overtime, 2-1 on Sept. 21 in Denver. The SMU win exacted revenge on the Pioneers for last year’s 1-0 Denver win over the Mustangs in Dallas.
Things were looking really good for DU as the second half clock ticked down in a tight game. DU’s Josh Drack had just scored a pretty go-ahead goal for the Pioneers with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation time, against the run of play in the second half, and the Pioneers were suddenly leading #8th ranked SMU, delighting a large crowd of over 1500 fans at DU soccer stadium on “Bark-in-the-Park” night home opener.
84' : Josh Drack's second goal of the season gives the Pioneers the late one goal lead! #PioneerTogether #GoPios #DENvSMU pic.twitter.com/0dybdvjomM
— Denver MSoccer (@DU_MSoccer) September 22, 2019
But with the big upset seemingly just within the Pioneers’ grasp, the DU wheels came off in the final two minutes of regulation, as SMU’s Garrett McLaughlin poked-home a game-tying goal with just 1:25 left in regulation in a goal-mouth scrum, forcing overtime at 1-1.
And once again, DU found a way to lose on overtime this season, letting SMU’s leader Eddie Munjoma dance free for a rocketing shot that beat DU goalie Will Palmquist to win the game for the Mustangs in the third minute of overtime.
SMU had dominated the second half of the contest, out shooting DU 12-3 after DU was better in the first half, as DU missed some strong chances to score early in the contest.
SMU improved to 7-0-0 on the season, and the Pioneers fell to 1-5-1.
Pioneer soccer teams return to Denver Saturday night
With an easy pre-conference schedule, head men’s soccer coach Jamie Franks could have padded his gaudy 61-12-10 career record this season, likely dominated the Summit league during league play and playoffs, and advanced one game into the NCAA Tournament before being bounced out. Instead, Franks has plans on hardening this season’s squad for the knockout rounds of the NCAAs. Continue reading Pioneer soccer teams return to Denver Saturday night
Denver Edges Cal for First Win, 1-0
BERKELEY, Calif. — The University of Denver men’s soccer team (1-4-1) topped the University of California Golden Bears (3-1-1) by a score of 1-0, completing their last match of six consecutive road games Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
Denver Falls to #3 Stanford, 2-0
PALO ALTO, Calif. —Third-ranked Stanford men’s soccer, the owners of 10 NCAA appearances in the past 18 years and national championships in 2015, 2016, and 2017, faced the Denver Pioneers in Palo Alto Friday night. Stanford (4-0-0) soundly defeated Denver (0-4-1) 2-0 at Cagan Stadium. Stanford now owns a 5-0-0 record against Denver. Their last meeting was a 1-0 double overtime thriller during the 2018 season, also in Palo Alto.