DENVER – The [4/2] University of Denver men's soccer program opened the scoring in the opening quarter hour, but after a second-half red card fell to Kansas City 2-1 in the Summit League Final on Saturday afternoon at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
Denver will learn its NCAA Tournament draw on Monday at 11 a.m. MT. The selection show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.
Scoring Summary
[4] Denver: Bassett 15' (Kelly)
Kansas City: Gosch 28' (Le Bourdoulous, Munoz), Kisoka 90' (Le Bourdoulous)
Notes:
- Denver remained at No. 3 in the RPI after the loss on Saturday.
- The Pioneers loss in the final was their first in 10 appearances in the Summit League Final.
- DU is now 17-8-5 all-time in conference tournament play.
- Sam Bassett opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season and the 23rd of his career.
- Bassett's goal gave him career point number 69, good for second in Denver's DI history.
- Bassett's 23rd career goal tied him with Matt Harrell for third in Denver's DI history.
First Half:
7' Denver's second corner kick of the young match got partially cleared to Jake Smith at the top of the box. Smith took a touch around a defender to get the ball to his left foot, and fired a shot just over the crossbar.
15' Off a Kansas City free kick, Dylan Akau made a 1v1 block inside the top of the box and then sprinted to the sideline to keep it in play and start a counter. Keegan Kelly ran with the ball for several touches before a diagonal run from Oje Ofunrein opened up space for Sam Bassett on the far side of the field. Kelly threaded the pass perfectly to Bassett. Bassett got his angle right and played it inside the far post to open the scoring.
28' After Isaac Nehme made an impressive save at his near post, Kansas City's first corner was stopped by the referee right before it was kicked and was deemed to need to be retaken. The retaken service was headed down into the six-yard box by Guille Munoz and Bryson Gosch tapped in the set piece into the open net.
Second Half:
51' Ben Smith played a ball over the top of the Kansas City backline to the run of Dylan Akau. Akau got free and played a ball hard and low across to the back post, but it was wide of the far post.
56' The second shot of the half, and the first for the visitors, came minutes later when some nifty footwork got Gabriele Galluccio free at the top of the box, but his strike was well over Nehme's crossbar.
73' Following a video review, Ian Smith was shown a red card for a non-called foul on the ball right in-front of the Denver bench.
83' Ben Smith played a long cross from the Denver right to the run of Trevor Wright on the back post, but the ball was a little behind him and the header was just wide of the post.
84' Kansas City earned a free kick 10 yards outside the center of the top of the box. The free kick was on target, but Nehme made a comfortable save and bounced it to himself.
90' The visitors took advantage of the 10-men Pioneers off another corner kick with under 15 seconds to play. Julien Le Bourdoulous played a corner kick to the back post and Elie Kisoka finished through bodies for the winner.
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