KANSAS CITY – The University of Denver men's soccer team won its eighth Summit League regular season title and its 10^th regular season conference crown since turning Division I in 1998 after a 1-1 draw with Kansas City on Saturday night at Durwood Soccer Stadium.
 
Denver and Oral Roberts will share the regular season crown as both teams finished with 13 points in the seven-match league schedule, but the Pioneers hold the tiebreaker with the head-to-head win a couple of weeks ago in Tulsa, giving Denver the top seed next weekend and hosting rights for the 2022 Summit League Men's Soccer Championship.
 
Kansas City will be the No. 4 seed on Thursday in the Summit League Semifinal, creating a rematch of Saturday night's match in the first semifinal on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT/10 a.m. MT in Macomb, Ill. Omaha and Oral Roberts will play in the second semifinal that is set for kick at 2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT.
 
Quotable: Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks:
"I'm really proud of the group. We knew the result that we needed tonight to make us champions, and the guys were really committed to that performance. After a poor penalty call against, we rebounded well and played together. There's a lot of areas we need to get better in before Thursday, and now that we're into all knockout games the rest of the way, we really need to focus on the details to continue to advance. Winning the regular season eight of nine years is a tremendous achievement, and says a lot about all the student-athletes that have come through this program, but this program is built on winning games in the tournament, so all of our focus has to shift immediately to our next match on Thursday."

Scoring Summary:
DEN: Ohira 48'
KC: Hirokawa 54' (pen)
 
Inside the Box Score:
Kansas City held a 15-11 shot advantage on the evening, but the Pioneers defense limited the quality of the chances, holding KC to just four of those 15 on target. Denver took six of the 10 corner kicks on the night.
 
First Half:
The two teams played to a scoreless opening 45 minutes in Kansas City, splitting the 10 shots five apiece. Denver took three of the five corner kicks, and both keepers were called on to make one save in the first half.
 
Stefan DeLeone was Denver's most dangerous threat going forward in the first half, putting Denver's only shot on target, heading a cross just wide of the post, and drawing a foul a couple of yards outside the box for a free kick near the endline.
 
Second Half:
Denver's press created the Denver breakthrough in the 48^th minute. Griffin Meyer forced the Kansas City backs to play it back to the keeper, and then forced the goalkeeper to play it quickly to a man who slipped. Destan Norman ran on to the mis-placed pass and slipped in Kengo Ohira who beat the keeper from just inside the penalty area to give the Pioneers the advantage. Ohira's tally was his third of the season and the eighth of his career. Norman's assist was his first of the campaign and his sixth in five years with the Crimson and Gold.
 
Kansas City put the match back on level terms in the 54^th minute when Kotaro Hirokawa converted from the penalty spot. Trevor Wright appeared to win the ball, but was ruled as having done so through the Kansas City attacker and was whistled for the foul to create the spot kick.
 
Neither team produced a clear-cut scoring opportunity following the Kansas City equalizer, and the match went into extra time.
 
Extra Time:
Ohira had the best chance for the Pioneers in the first extra session, but his header on a cross from the left rose over the bar.
 
Meyer had a shot blocked and out for a corner in the early stages of the second period of extra time, but the Pioneers couldn't convert on the ensuing corner. The Crimson and Gold created a couple more dangerous free kicks, but KC's defense dealt with the danger and kept the Pioneers off the board.
 
Notes:
- The regular season title is Denver's 10^th in its Division I history, including its eighth since joining the Summit League in 2013.
- The Pioneers have won all but two trophies since joining the league in 2013 (1 regular season and 1 postseason).
- Freshman defender Jason Belloli made his eighth appearance on Saturday, including his first career start. 

Up Next:
Denver will take on Kansas City in the Summit League Semifinals in Macomb on Thursday at 10 a.m. MT. The two Thursday semifinal winners will meet in the Summit League Final Saturday at 12 p.m. MT.
 
Tickets:
Denver men's and women's soccer single game tickets for the 2021 campaign are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
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