The Pioneer men’s soccer hosted San Diego State Friday and Cal State Fullerton on Sunday and defeated them both, 2-1 and 4-1 respectively.

“I’m happy with the result,” said head coach Bobby Muuss. “Playing two games in three days is difficult.”

The team pulled off these wins after starting the season with a three-game losing streak.

“Friday’s game definitely gave us some momentum going into Sunday’s game,” said sophomore defenseman Marc Kocel. “We know we can play and with a win on Friday, we got our confidence.”

In the Pioneers’ game Sunday against Cal State Fullerton freshmen Alex DeCosta, Sam Garza and Jarod Stigall all scored their first career goals. Senior forward Leon Abravanel scored the first goal for Denver just over six minutes into the game, putting the Pioneers ahead from the start.

“Losing seniors who were key contributions to the team is always tough, but our coaches have done a good job recruiting and brought in 10 new talented players,” said Kocel. “We got off to a rough start but now our chemistry is building and things are starting to click.”

Freshman midfielder DeCosta extended Denver’s lead in the first half putting in his first career goal with just over 14 minutes remaining in the half. Freshman forward Garza gave him the assist and then minutes later put in his own first career goal, getting the rebound on his own shot.

Garza’s goal put Denver up 3-1 going into the half. Freshman midfielder Stigall gave Denver a three-goal lead when he put in a shot past Titan goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon just nine minutes into the second half.

Goalkeeper Joe Willis started his first game since 2006 and made five saves, only letting one past.

The Pioneers are on the road for the next two weekends, playing St. Louis first on Saturday at 6 p.m.