Denver men’s soccer was on the road for two games this week and suffered their first two losses of the season. The first was a 2-0 defeat at No. 1 ranked Pittsburgh, and the second was a 1-0 loss at unranked Summit League opponent Kansas City. 

Monday’s game against Pittsburgh started evenly, with both teams registering shots in the first 25 minutes. Denver senior midfielder Sam Bassett had a great chance to open the scoring in the 23rd minute. Bassett made space in the middle of the box, but his shot hit his teammate. 

Pittsburgh broke through in the 39th minute. Senior midfielder Michael Sullivan received a pass with space in the box and he beat the keeper at the near post to put Pittsburgh up 1-0 going into halftime. 

Denver had another chance to score when redshirt junior defender Ian Smith went on a great run and fired a shot from across the box. But, it was pushed over the bar by Pittsburgh sophomore goalkeeper Jack Moxom. 

In the 51st minute, Pittsburgh senior midfielder Casper Grening cut in from the left side of the field and curled the ball into the top right corner to put Pittsburgh up 2-0. 

Denver couldn’t put together a comeback, and the game finished 2-0 in favor of Pittsburgh. 

Denver’s game on Saturday got off to a rough start. The Crimson and Gold turned the ball over in a build up which led to Kansas City junior forward Elie Kisoka receiving the ball at the top of the box and scoring in just the 14th minute. 

The rest of the game was a tight back-and-forth, but Denver was unable to convert on any of their 11 shots. They never found an equalizer and the game ended 1-0 to Kansas City. 

These two losses were Denver’s first of the season, moving their overall record to 7-2-4 and their Summit League record to 2-1-0. 

Denver will be back at home next week on Oct. 16 for another Summit League game against Omaha.