On Senior Night, the senior class scored all five goals in their shutout of Oral Roberts to clinch the Summit League regular season title for the sixth year in a row. Before kickoff, the 2018 senior class was recognized for their outstanding achievements over their four years playing in Crimson and Gold. The nine players recognized were Nick Gardner (Marvin, N.C.), Scott DeVoss (Centennial, Colo.), Andre Shinyashiki (São Paulo, Brazil), Eric Kronenberg (Boulder, Colo.), Moshe Perez (Shim’a, Israel), Tosh Samkange (Sammamish, Wash.) and Kenny Akamatsu (Niigata, Japan).
Goalkeeper Gardner played a total of 5, 263 minutes tallying 98 saves and has a career record of 42-9-5 when between the woodwork for the Pioneers.
Defender DeVoss played 7,410 minutes as the skipper of the Pioneer backline and he totaled 13 points in the offensive end of the pitch.
Forward Shinyashiki has 5,346 minutes to his name along with 115 career points with 50 goals and 15 assists for the Pioneers. Shinyashiki leads the golden boot race and is a finalist for the Senior Class Award.
Forward Kronenberg tallied 1,859 minutes in his career with the Pioneers where he has scored 29 points with 13 goals and 3 assists.
Midfielder Perez is a transfer from the Colorado Mesa University soccer program. His DU career has consisted of two goals and five assists in 618 minutes.
Defender Samkange played 2,816 minutes with three career points coming all from assists.
Midfielder Akamatsu’s career stats and other associated information are mentioned in the DU Clarion’s latest edition of Pio Personality.
In the first half, the Pioneers began to demonstrate their offensive power as Perez sent a curler headed for the top corner that was just tipped away by the Oral Roberts goalkeeper in the 15th minute. Moments later, sophomore Jacob Stensson (Stockholm, Sweden) guided a through ball to freshman Stefan DeLeone (Fort Collins, Colo.) on the right side of the pitch where DeLeone sent it back into the middle. Shinyashiki pounced and finished the ball into the back of the net from 8 yards out, getting his NCAA-leading 10th game-winner. Perez would come close again in the 20th minute with a shot off the woodwork.
In the 30th minute, the Pioneers worked the ball from the backline up to Stensson who sent a switching ball to the left wing to the waiting Akamatsu. From there, Akamatsu took a few touches and sent the ball into the back of the net from 25 yards out to score his third of the season. Later in the half, redshirt-freshman Jared Jungjohann (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) sent a ball down the right side to Perez. Perez crossed it to a cutting Shinyashiki who in turn sent the ball into the right side of the net. The Pioneers would conclude the first half up 3-0.
Early in the second half, Akamatsu would force a save out of the Oral Roberts goalkeeper to keep the offensive pressure on the Oral Roberts’ defense. This offensive pressure would continue at the hour mark of the match as Shinyashiki would slip a ball into Akamatsu’s path. Akamatsu would send the ball back towards the penalty spot where Kronenberg would finish the ball into an empty net to score his first goal of the 2018 campaign.
From the right side of the pitch, Stensson would send a cross into the box where the ball met Shinyashiki whom would tap it in to get his 50th career goal and 27th goal of the 2018 season. This goal would also seal Shinyashiki’s fifth hat trick of the season and would close the game out for the Pioneers with a final score of 5-0.
This result solidified the dominance the Pioneers have had in the Summit League and also how crucial this senior class has been to the program as a whole. The seniors will graduate ranked fourth with the most wins over their past four years at DU. The Pioneers will be hosting the Summit League Championship this year at Ciber Field. The first-ranked Pioneers will begin tournament play against the fourth seed Eastern Illinois at 1 p.m. MST.
