There were not many people to witness it, but the men’s soccer team notched one of their biggest wins of the season yesterday, 2-1 in overtime over conference foe San Jose State.
The game was originally scheduled for last Sunday but postponed due to snow.
The Pioneers entered the game 1-2-3 in their last six games and this was just the momentum the team needed entering the second half of their conference schedule.
Freshman midfielder Ryan Aweida picked a perfect time to score the first two goals of his DU career.
After a scoreless first period, Aweida found the back of the net in the 78 minute.
With 16 seconds remaining Denver was called for a controversial handball in the box, leading to a goal for the Spartan’s on a penalty kick.
Aweida struck again just over three minutes into the extra frame heading in a corner kick from sophomore Colin Audley.
This past weekend the men’s soccer team put a screeching halt to the Loyola Ramblers’ six game-winning streak. The Pioneers return home having tied the Ramblers 1-1. The Pioneer’s now have a record of 5-4-3 overall and 1-1-2 MPSF. The Loyola Ramblers are now 9-3-4 overall and 5-0-2 in conference.
In the first 3:36 of the game, the Ramblers’ Keum Sung Kim, buried a shot for the first goal. Kim was unassisted and scored from 20 yards away. He made seven additional shots throughout the game with five of those shots being made on goal.
It wasn’t until the second quarter, did the Pioneers make a move that earned them a goal. Assisted by Eric Vogel, a senior from Cherry Hills Village, Kyle Christensen buried the pass. This was Christensen’s fifth goal of the year, placing him second on the team for number of recorded goals. Although, the Ramblers’ junior goalkeeper Brian Byrne, had kept the Pioneers quiet for most of the game, he wasn’t able silence Christensen.
The Ramblers actually outshot the Pioneers. Loyola made 20 shots, whereas the Pioneers only made 10. Loyola tried but couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities. This is in part due to DU freshman goalkeeper, Teale Stone. This was Stone’s first game as a starter. In his first starting gig, Stone made nine saves.
Stone was given this opportunity because senior Matt Bredehoft was injured in the game against Sacramento just over a week ago. Bredehoft’s shoes are big ones to fill, but Stone’s nine saves is a good start to say the least.
This was a big game for the DU Pioneers because the Loyola Ramblers are a 10th ranked NCAA team. In the past six games, the Ramblers shutout their opponents. And earlier this week they clinched their division title after shutting out Milwaukee, 1-0 and Green Bay, 3-0. This is a feat that the Ramblers haven’t achieved since 2000.
Last week after the San Jose game had been postponed coach Muuss was optimistic about the upcoming game against the Ramblers. He stressed how the team had to “refocus now on a very good Loyola Chicago team that will probably be in the NCAA tournament.” He continued to say that “This Sat is a great opportunity to see how good (we) can be against a probable NCAA team.” Little did he know that the Pioneers would go on to match the Ramblers.
The Pioneers have five games left in the regular season, all of which are in conference games. This Friday DU will take on Sacramento State in California. The last time the Pioneers played the Sacramento Hornets, the game resulted in a tie, 1-1.
DU will end its trip in California on Sunday with a game at San Jose State. The Pioneers played the rescheduled game from just over a week ago yesterday at the Pioneer field.
