Box Score DENVER – University of Denver men’s soccer senior forward Zach Bolden (Denver, Colorado) scored and junior goalkeeper Oliver Brown (Louisville, Ky.) recorded his fifth shutout of the season, giving the Pioneers a 1-0 win over Omaha at CIBER Field on Saturday night.
The victory extends DU’s unbeaten streak to nine games, just one shy of the team’s NCAA Division I record set in 2008.
Denver (8-3-3, 3-0-0 Summit League) also has gone 318 minutes since surrendering a goal, the fourth longest such stretch in team history and 89 minutes shy of the team record set in 2006.
“We grinded out a win here tonight,” head coach Bobby Muuss said. “This was about as gritty of a match as we’ve had in a long time. I give Coach Jason Mims and Omaha a heck of a lot of credit coming in here and really disrupting us and playing well. They broke us down at times, but I liked the way we grinded it out. What we’ve talked about is we always want to play pretty and play the game the right way, but sometimes you’ve just got to grind out wins, and we did that here tonight.”
The Pioneers thought they broke through halfway through the first half, but a handball nullified what would have been a goal by Bolden, and the teams headed to halftime with a scoreless tie.
The Pioneers scored the game’s only goal in the 63rd minute. Senior Cole Chapleski (Broomfield, Colo.) took the ball up the left side and crossed it to the top of the box, where redshirt junior Reid Hukari (Wheat Ridge, Colo.) one-timed a pass to Bolden, who took one dribble and beat Omaha goalkeeper Matt Grosey.
Brown made five saves to earn his third-straight shutout, leaving him one shy of Matt Bredehoft’s DU Division I record of four-straight shutouts in 2006.
Grosey made four saves for Omaha (3-8-1, 1-2-0 Summit League). The Pioneers held a 13-10 advantage in shots and a 5-3 lead in corner kicks.
The Pioneers conclude their regular season home schedule against Eastern Illinois at CIBER Field on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. MT.
Fans interested in purchasing home game tickets can do so by phone at 303-871-2336, in person at the Richie Center box office or through DenverPioneers.com.
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