DENVER – Senior striker
Andre Shinyashiki (Sao Paulo, Brazil) recorded the ninth multi-goal game of his career, including his third in six matches this season to lead the University of Denver men's soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Harvard on Friday night at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
Shinyashiki, who entered the week leading the NCAA in goals (8) and game-winning goals (4), now has 10 on the season and four game-winners in six matches in 2018.
"I think we were outshooting them 10-0 at one point, so we did a great job of getting on top of the game," head coach
Jamie Franks said. "[We're a] Little frustrated with the group for giving up too many free looks at our goal from fouls. We need more discipline there. Overall, we started five freshmen, so to be able to come in and dictate the game and play as well as we did was a good thing. Giving the goal up at 3-0 made the game more interesting than it needed to be, but there are a lot of learning lessons and growth opportunities from this match. The group needs to ask themselves what their ambition is. We're very close, but there's still so much work that needs to get done. If they are willing to challenge themselves and grow from a game like this, we'll continue to get better each week."
Shinyashiki's ninth goal of the season came from classmate senior winger
Kenny Akamatsu (Niigata, Japan) in the 24
th minute. Akamatsu picked off a Harvard pass in the middle of the field, took a couple touches and fed Shinyashiki in the left side of the box. Shinyashiki turned his defender and buried his 32
nd career goal into the bottom right corner to put the Pioneers in-front.
Redshirt-freshman forward
Brooks Crawford (Greenwood Village, Colo.) scored the first of his collegiate career just over three minutes later to double the Denver advantage in the first half. Freshman centerback
Callum Stretch (Encino, Calif.) played a pass across the midfield line to Shinyashiki, who slipped in Crawford behind the Harvard back-four to setup a 1v1. Crawford beat the keeper to his left for the first of his career. Shinyashiki's assist was his second of the season and the 13
th of his career, while Stretch picked up his first career point with the helper.
Shinyashiki got to double digits in the goal column on the season off a well-constructed counter-attack from back-to-front. Freshman attacking mid
Liam Johnson (Golden, Colo.) got the ball in the middle of the field to sophomore holding mid
Jacob Stensson (Stockholm, Sweden) who switched the play to the Denver left to the run of Shinyashiki, who was left 1v1 with a Harvard defender. Shinyashiki curled in his 10
th of the year to the far post to put his career goal total at 33.
Harvard pulled one back on a free kick from Sam Brown right on 77 minutes, dipping it over the Denver wall and into the left side of the net.
Denver outshot Harvard 18-8 and took six of the match's 10 corners.
UP NEXT:
The Pioneers will conclude their four match homestand and a stretch of six of seven at home to begin the 2018 season on Sunday afternoon when [5/4] Denver welcomes [22/-] San Francisco to the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. Sunday's match will be broadcast live on Altitude with Tyler Maun and Chris Bianchi on the call, and will serve as the program's Annual Bark in the Park Match.
TICKETS:
Single-game tickets for the 2018 Denver men's soccer season are also on sale, and can be
purchased here.
PIONEER MOVEMENT: Fans interested in making a donation to the men's soccer program can do so by clicking here. Your contribution will make a direct impact on the success of YOUR Pioneers. Thank you in advance for your unwavering support of our student-athletes and their quest for excellence.
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