During senior night at CIBER Field on Saturday, the DU men’s soccer team held off Air Force 3-2 to earn its 10th win of the season. Ten wins marks the highest total in a season for the graduating class of men’s soccer players and helped the Pioneers solidify their position in next week’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament.
DU recorded goals from three players, including senior defender Drew Beckie, junior midfielder Zach Bolden and freshman midfielder Jordan Schweitzer, who scored his first career goal. Beckie and Bolden both scored in the first half, helping the Pioneers stake down a 2-0 lead.
“It’s a great result. Again, I think the win was better than the performance,” said head coach Bobby Muuss. “We’ll definitely take that for these seniors that have worked extremely hard for the last four years. They’ve been through a lot of adversity, a lot of ups and downs, to get to this point.”
Shortly after halftime, in the 47th minute, Air Force narrowed the lead on a rip from Falcon Kevin Rosillion from roughly 30 yards out. The goal was the first of Rosillion’s career but was quickly answered by Schweitzer’s well-placed shot from 20 yards out. The goal put the Pioneers up 3-1, providing the game winner.
Schweitzer’s goal also gave the Pioneers enough insurance to overcome a late 84th-minute goal from Air Force sophomore Matt Payne, who scored off a through ball on the right side. The goal came as the culmination of increased pressure applied by Air Force, looking to overcome a slow first half in which they forced Pioneer goalkeeper Oliver Brown to make just one save.
The main focus of the night, however, was on the five seniors. Beckie, forward Joe Eubanks, defender Blake Shannon and midfielders Mark Weigand and Josh Wren all left the field knowing it was the last home game they would play as Pioneers.
“I’m at a loss for words a little bit,” said Wren, the team’s leading goal scorer. “It’s emotional. I couldn’t be more proud of my boys. It’s hard to really realize that it’s my last game here, and I haven’t really wrapped my head around it, but we wanted to come out with a win.”
Despite what Muuss described as sloppy play, the Pioneers were able to do just that, riding the two first-half goals to a victory in their final game before the conference tournament this week in Albuquerque, N.M. DU (10-5-3, 5-4-1 MPSF) will enter the tournament with the No. 4 seed, while Air Force will have the No. 2 seed.
New Mexico, ranked No. 10 in the nation, finished first in MPSF play this season, earning the right to host the end-of-the-year tournament.
Looking forward, Muuss is busy preparing his team for the conference tournament where the Pioneers will take on the No. 5 seed, San Jose State.
“We’ve got to protect the ball, keep it and play a little bit more compact,” said Muuss. “We’ll approach them [San Jose State] exactly the same [as we would any other team]. We’ve got to play good.”
With the win, the Pioneers seem to be peaking at just the right time, having won four out of their last five matches.
“We know what we’ve got to do,” said Wren. “We’re not worried at all; I just think that when we get down there, it just comes to whether or not we bring our game. The sky is the limit, really.”
