PORTLAND – The [14/14] University of Denver men's soccer team took leads in early stages of both halves, but fell to [11/9] Portland 4-2 on Friday night at Merlo Field.
Significant Stats:
- Sam Bassett's brace was the first of his career, goals three and four on the season and the 10th and 11th goals of his Pioneer career.
- Oje Ofunrein's assist on the Bassett breakthrough was the first of his career.
- Dylan Akau earned the primary assist on Bassett's second half tally, his first of the season and the third of his two-year Pioneer career.
- Lukas Fisher earned his second assist of the season and the eighth of his Denver career on Bassett's 46th minute strike.
- Denver lost for just the second time in the last four seasons when scoring the first goal of the match (32-2-6).
- Isaac Nehme made a career-high seven saves in the setback Friday.
First Half:
17' Bassett got Denver on the board just after the opening quarter hour. Ofunrein setup the breakthrough getting the ball to Bassett and the endline, who played his shot right through the goalkeepers legs and into the back of the net for this third of the season.
18' Isaac Nehme made two big time saves on either side of Bassett's opening strike, including one off the foot of Jacob Babalai's boot that the Denver sophomore keeper was able to deflect out of danger with his leg.
23' Bassett had the chance to make it 2-0 when Dylan Akau found him at the top of the box. Bassett took a touch at the top of the box to get it to his right foot, but the Portland keeper made a beautiful diving save to his left to keep the Pioneers lead at 1-0.
36' Portland leveled things up just under 20 minutes after the Denver opener when Kevin Bonilla was the first to a blocked cross by Ian Smith and got a second cross off to the run of Samory Powder, who split the Denver centerbacks with his run and knocked it by Nehme.
Second Half:
46' Just 46 seconds into the second half, the Pioneers grabbed the lead back off some quick passing and a brilliant finish off a Denver throw-in. Akau threw it into Fisher, who turned and found himself in space down the Denver right. Fisher got it back to the overlapping run of Akau, who pulled it back to the top of the box run from Bassett. Similar to his first-half attempt to make it 2-0, Bassett got it on his right foot, and this time smashed it past the keeper to put Denver 2-1 up.
64' Babalai had a go at another Portland equalizer, but Dylan Akau flew through the air to give up his body to block the shot and keep it away from Nehme's net.
68' Off a Portland corner kick, Powder looked to complete his brace off a recycled run, but Nehme was able to save his attempt before Babalai jumped on the rebound to level things at 2-2 once again.
77' Jose Olmos beat the offside trap to put the Pilots in-front for the first time Friday night, making it 3-2 with a sliding volley off a cross from Sebastian Hernandez.
79' With Denver pushing numbers forward, Buba Fofanah stayed with the ball after sliding and poking it away from Nehme before knocking it into the open net to double Portland's lead.
Up Next:
Denver will play the final game of its Pacific Northwest road trip on Monday night when the Pioneers take on Seattle. Kick is set for 8 p.m. MT on ESPN+.
Tickets:
Season and single game tickets for Denver men's and women's soccer are on-sale now and can be purchased here.
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