Photo by: Justin Edmonds
The Pioneers now sit at the top of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference having won both of their games last weekend on a round trip to California.
DU’s Kyle Christensen put up the game’s first goal, with an assist from Collin Audley, in the 20th minute of the game. But a minute later, San Jose State’s Ismael Ibarra tied up the game, burring a pass from Nick Cukar.
The game remained tied, going into overtime, until Audley scored the winning goal for DU. This is DU’s second straight win against San Jose State this season, giving them a 8-4-3 overall and a 4-1-2 MPSF record.
The Pioneers went into Sunday’s game with a win already behind them in their trip to California. On Friday, the Pioneers played at Sacramento State, a team they had previously tied with earlier in the month. The final score was 3-2, with two of the goals having been made by Christensen.
Christensen is DU’s top goal-maker with eight so far for the season.
“Kyle Christensen showed what he can do as a goal scorer today by putting in two,” assistant coach Ryan Pflugrad commented.
Freshman midfielder Ryan Aweida, however, scored the first goal of the Friday game. With 25:14 into the game, Aweida found the back of the net, having been assisted by sophomore forward Audley.
Christensen scored the first goal of the second, putting DU in the lead 2-0. The Hornets responded with a goal from David von Stockhausen who scored off a pass from Ernesto Carranza.
But it was Christensen who beat out three defenders and buried a pass from senior defender Eric Vogel, to make the game 3-1.
The Hornets, however, could only muster up one more goal, with less than three minutes of play left.
Aweida was recently announced as the MPSF Player of the Week. Last Monday, Aweida scored DU’s only and winning goals in their last game against San Jose State. Both goals were headers off corner kicks.
Head Coach Bobby Muuss is proud of Aweida and said, “I am glad to see all of the hard work he has put in this season rewarded.”
Aweida is the second Pioneer this season to win the award. Junior midfielder Joe Mathot was given the award the week of September 24th.
The Pioneers continue their road trip this weekend with a game on Saturday against the Air Force Academy. This game is a conference game against a team they previously lost to in October. With two wins this past weekend, DU has the momentum.
