Oregon State 1-0 Denver

CORVALLIS, Ore. - On a night where it controlled the majority of the play and the chances, the [RV] University of Denver men's soccer team suffered a 1-0 result to No. 25 Oregon State on Thursday evening at Paul Lorenz Field.

"I think we came out a little bit slow, getting used to the surface," head coach Bobby Muuss said. "This is a hard place to play. No piece of grass really stays in place out here. We wasted about 15 or 20 minutes of the game I thought, before we really started to settle in. We really were able to find a rhythm for the rest of the game, and to get to the endline almost at will. We produced some really clear cut chances, which is all you really want in an NCAA Tournament game is get clear cut chances, and we did that, but unfortunately, we just weren't able to get any by the keeper tonight."

Oregon State freshman Jordan Jones scored his eighth of the season off assists from Khiry Shelton and Graham Smith. Smith played a cross in from 30 yards off the endline from the left flank. Shelton chested the cross to Jones who finished from 16 yards out into the left side. Jones's breakthrough came in the 17th minute.

"It's just disappointing," Muuss said. "I think our players and this program deserved better today. Give Oregon State a lot of credit though. They have some very dangerous weapons up top, and play a style that's conducive for the athletes that they have in the attack. Unfortunately, we just weren't able to find the back of the net."

Once Oregon State got the 17th minute goal, Denver controlled play, getting a chance almost immediately off the head of junior midfielder Karsten Hanlin (Centennial, Colo.).

Sophomore forward Eric Kronenberg (Boulder, Colo.) played 21 minutes in the opening stanza, and created two scoring chances of his own in the opening 45, having one opportunity saved, and one blocked. The Pioneers earned six corners in the first half.

Senior Brian Hoyt (Tempe, Ariz.) nearly found the equalizer in the 50th minute, off a sliding cross from classmate Ryan Dodson (Libertyville, Ill.) that Hoyt redirected off the end of his slide effort from six-yards out, but Hoyt wasn't able to get any direction on it, and Oregon State keeper Matt Bersano collected it in-front for his third save of the game.

The Pioneers created another quality scoring chance in the 62nd minute as an AJ Fuller (Littleton, Colo.) throw-in was flicked by freshman centerback Kortne Ford (Greeley, Colo.) to the head of Kronenberg, but the sophomore's effort didn't have enough pace to get by Bersano.

Denver finished with an 11-6 edge in corner kicks, and had four shots in each period.

"This senior class helped take this program to the next level," Muuss said. "The first senior class to get to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, and not just go to them, but to play well and perform in the national spotlight. I think you saw that at the end of the game tonight, they gave it everything. The guys on the field tonight were really impressive. We had some freshman step up, and play really well tonight too. Nick Gardner was fantastic in goal, and AJ Fuller came on, Alex Underwood came on and Kortnee Ford was fantastic tonight."

Oregon State advances to play Creighton on Sunday in Omaha.

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