DENVER -- The University of Denver men's soccer team continued their winning ways Sunday, defeating Fresno State 2-1 for their fourth consecutive victory and second straight in conference play. The Pioneers improve to 5-3 on the season, 2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference. Fresno State falls to 7-3-1, 0-2.
Denver got on the scoreboard first in the game, though it would take more than 69 minutes for either team to come close to scoring. After a scoreless first half that saw Fresno State outshoot the Pioneers 7-4, Denver junior Eric Van Deman (Littleton, Colo.) took a pass from fellow junior Matt Harrell (Littleton, Colo.) and deposited it in the back of the net to give the Pioneers a 1-0 advantage. Harrell had picked up a loose ball and dribbled the length of the field and turned inward towards the goal when he found Van Deman open in the middle for the uncontested shot.
Denver would add to their lead just over three minutes later, when sophomore Nic Hartman (Littleton, Colo.) found senior Dag-Christian Olsen (Gjovik, Norway) open on his right side and got the ball to him, which Olsen promptly put past Bulldog goalkeeper Jeremy Proud for a 2-0 DU advantage. Fresno State would add a late goal on a penalty kick in the 86th minute, but Denver would hold on from there as they remain unbeaten at home and in conference play.
In a hard fought game with two evenly matched teams, Fresno State outshot the Pioneers 14-10, but Denver goalkeeper Parker Jarvis (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) kept them out of the net except for the late penalty kick and ran his record as a goalkeeper to 4-2.
The Pioneers are next in action Friday, Oct. 13 when they play at California-Irvine at 8:00 p.m.
