DENVER - The University of Denver men's soccer team (1-1) defeated the visiting Houston Baptist Huskies (1-1) 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at CIBER field at the DU Soccer Stadium. The Pioneers used a goal by sophomore Alex Tarnoczi (Castle Rock, Colo.) in the 75th minute to seal the win and improve to 1-1 on the season.

"I am proud of the way our guys rebounded from their performance on Friday," said head coach Bobby Muuss. "We played much better, we communicated better and I'm happy that we were able to come away with the win. We have a lot to work on though because we gave up two goals on mental mistakes and for us to be a good team, that can't happen."

The Pioneers struck first in the 16th minute, as Tarnoczi fed a pass to junior Jarod Stigall (Plano, Texas), who one-timed it to sophomore Josh Wren (Tulsa, Okla.) who then side-volleyed the ball past a diving Huskies' keeper.

Houston Baptist evened the score in the 67th minute as John McDuffee headed a corner kick from Andrew Collins. Denver took the 2-1 advantage just moments later as sophomore Mark Weigand (Fort Wayne, Ind.) converted a deflected shot. The play began as junior Jarod Stigall's (Plano, Texas) shot deflected off a Huskies' defender and fell to the feet of Weigand.

In the 71st minute, the Huskies once again evened the score as Andrew Collins delivered a cross from 25 yards out, connecting with Kristopher Tyrpak who dribbled through the box and slipped a shot past the Pioneers' keeper.

The game-winner came just four minutes later as Tarnoczi recovered a loose ball in the box to score his first goal of the season.

Next, Denver heads to Albuquerque, N.M. for the New Mexico Tournament. The Pioneers will face Portland on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Georgetown on Sunday at 11 a.m.

 

- PIONEERS -