The Pioneer men’s soccer team improved their record to 5-2-2 with back-to-back weekend triumphs over the Northern Illinois Huskies and the Fairfield Stags in the New Mexico Classic in Albuquerque, NM.
The victories mark Denver’s fourth and fifth consecutive wins this season.
On Friday, the Pioneers topped Northern Illinois 3-2 in double overtime. The team started off strong with a goal by senior defender Blake Shannon off a pass from junior midfielder Cole Chapleski in the 15th minute.
In the 38th minute of play, sophomore midfielder Brian Hoyt put the Pioneers up 2-0 by burying the rebound from an attempt from sophomore forward Ryan Dodson.
Northern Illinois (1-3-2) rallied for a comeback in the second half, tying the game in the 82nd minute and sending it into overtime.
The first 10-minute overtime was scoreless. It was not until the second overtime period that senior Josh Wren was able to score the golden goal off a pass from sophomore Reid Hukari, making the Pioneers triumphant in their fifth overtime game in seven matches.
“Once again, we made the match harder than it needed to be, but I am extra happy that we got the result in the end,” said head coach Bobby Muuss.
“We had a 2-0 goal lead and the game in hand, and we let up a bit. Northern Illinois took us out of our game with the way they played. We need to stick to what we do for longer periods of the game.”
Denver outshot the Huskies 21-14 and held an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Denver’s second win this weekend was a 2-1 victory over the Fairfield Stags (3-4-1) on Sunday, resulting from a comeback from an early 1-0 deficit.
Denver dominated the statistics throughout the game, outshooting the Stags 19-12 and holding a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Freshman Malcolm Harris scored his first career goal and tied up the game in the 27th minute; fellow freshman Jordan Schweitzer had the assist. Hoyt scored the game-winner by making use of a deflection off the goalkeeper.
“The team showed a lot of character going from behind to win against a good Fairfield team,” said Muuss. “Although it was not the team’s best performance, the most important thing is that they found a way to win the game. We have an important week of preparation ahead of us as we begin conference play against a very good Air Force team on the road.”
The Pioneers will begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation competition this week as they take on the Air Force Academy at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Colorado Springs.