ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The [10/8] University of Denver men's soccer team defeated Lindenwood 4-0 on Wednesday night at Hunter Stadium.
SIGNIFICANT STATS:
· Denver is now 45-7-8 in Summit League regular season play since joining the league in 2013.
· Wednesday night was the first meeting between the two programs.
· Denver held a 12-4 shot advantage at the intermission, including a 5-2 edge in shots on target. The Pioneers also took four of the five corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.
· After not finding the net in his first 12 appearances, Holger Olsson made it back-to-back multi-goal games, scoring 8:02 apart in the second half to pad Denver's advantage.
· Isaac Nehme's assist in the second half was the first assist by a Denver goalkeeper since Nick Gardner had an assist in Denver's 4-0 win over North Florida on September 9, 2018.
· Sam Bassett's three-point night was his fourth such night this season that included the second game-winning goal of his sophomore campaign.
· Kengo Ohira's goal was his second of the season and the 12th of his career.
JACK AND SHEILA WEINBERG HEAD MEN'S SOCCER COACH JAMIE FRANKS:
I'm proud of the team's effort tonight. The guys played as a collective with urgency from the very beginning and we had a high level of focus on every play. We picked up another cleansheet tonight, and I'm just really proud of the overall performance of the team. We got a lot of contributions from our bench tonight. It's hard when you're playing all across the country like we've done this fall to find your attacking form. I'm really proud of our guys for sticking to it, putting the work in, in training, and you see it paying off these last few matches as we prepare to start the most important time of the year later this month.
KEY MOMENTS:
3' Ian Smith and Eli Mereness each had early attempts at the Lindenwood goal, but Smith's shot was blocked and Mereness rebound attempt was kept out by the Lions keeper.
9' Stefan DeLeone struck the woodwork just shy of 10 minutes in. Sam Bassett and Ian Smith both had chances off bouncing balls in the box after the DeLeone shot struck the post, but the trio of Pios were unable to find the back of the net.
22' Bassett's sixth career goal gave Denver its well-deserved breakthrough in the opening half hour. Coming off the best game of his career on Saturday, Holger Olsson setup the Bassett goal, getting to the endline down the Denver right before pulling it back to Bassett in the middle of the area.
33' Isaac Hoog had Lindenwood's best chance of the opening 45 minutes, splitting a pair of Denver defenders after picking off a pass. Isaac Nehme made the first initial save before Liam Johnson flew in to the rescue to clear the rebound off the line and keep the Pioneers in-front.
42' Olsson volleyed a Lukas Fisher cross for Denver's best chance to double the advantage after the 22nd-minute breakthrough, but Lindenwood's keeper Meldin Sabotic kept it out.
45' Lindenwood had the last chance of the first half, but Caleb Soots shot sailed over Nehme's crossbar.
Halftime
51' After a pair of goals for the first time in his career last time out, and a first-half assist, Olsson's third goal of the season came just on the other side of halftime. Fisher played a cross in from the Denver right that was headed around in the middle of the six-yard box. Olsson was on the back post and bounced in his third-career goal past the keeper inside the far post.
59' Nehme earned the first assist of his young career eight minutes later, punting the ball three-quarters of the field to the run of Olsson, who won his 1v1 battle and slotted home his second of the night and his fourth of the season.
72' Kengo Ohira nearly made it 4-0 from 25-yards out, but his effort on target was tipped over the bar by the goalkeeper.
75' A few minutes later, Ohira was the Pioneer to make it 4-0, capping off a beautiful piece of counter-attacking play with his second goal of the season. Griffin Meyer played Bassett on the let side of the box before Bassett crossed it to Ohira in the center of the area who was all alone in-front of the penalty spot to knock it into the open net.
Fulltime
WHAT'S NEXT:
Denver will take on Western Illinois on Senior Saturday to honor the 10-member senior class. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. MT and the seniors will be recognized postgame.
TICKETS:
Single-game tickets are on sale now for all men's soccer matches for the 2022 season. Click here to purchase today.
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