Photo by: Jake Rokeach

The Pioneer men’s soccer team played its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game on Friday evening against No. 22 New Mexico and tied 1-1 in double overtime. On Sunday afternoon the Pioneers beat University of Nevada Las Vegas 2-1 to improve their overall record to 5-3-1 (1-0-1 MPSF).

“It was the first time we haven’t lost against New Mexico so it was nice to comeback from behind and get a tie,” said Bobby Muuss, head coach of the men’s soccer team. “There were over 3,000 people at the game.”

The DU Pioneers were down 1-0 against New Mexico with 10 minutes left in the game when sophomore forward Kellan Christensen headed in a corner kick from junior midfielder Joe Mathot to make the game a tie and send it into overtime. During overtime each team got off four shots but neither could knock one in for the win. Freshman goalkeeper Teale Stone made his first career start for the Pioneers and had two saves.

The Pioneers controlled the game on Sunday, outshooting the UNLV Rebels 13-7 and maintained a 2-0 lead until the final seconds of the game.

“We used 17 guys throughout the game and that kept us fresh,” said Muuss of a reason why they won they game.

Only 17 minutes into the game, junior forward Greg Fiddick (Sidney, B.C.) hit a diving header to the left post after receiving a free kick pass from Mathot. With less than five minutes left in the first half, the UNLV goalkeeper came out to challenge junior forward Kyle Christensen (Layton, Utah), who fought past two defenders to score on an open net.

“The most important thing was that we got a win on the road,” said Muuss. “There was a little bit of a revenge factor for the boys because they lost to UNLV at the end of the season last year.”

The Pioneers play at home for the first time in six games on Saturday, Oct. 13, against Air Force at 1 p.m. on Pioneer Field. Air Force and DU are the only two Division I men’s soccer teams in Colorado.

“Air Force is kind of an instate rivalry and it is always a difficult game,” said Muuss.