DENVER – The No. 3 seed University of Denver men's soccer program struck three times in the opening half hour, including a gorgeous back-heel from captain Ben Smith to open the scoring in a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
Denver will take on No. 14 seed Indiana in the NCAA Round of 16 on Saturday, November 30. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. MT. Ticket information will be released at a later time. Every match before the College Cup is broadcast on ESPN+.
Scoring Summary
[3] Denver: Ben Smith 19' (Willoughby, Wynne), Kelly 24' (Bassett), Wright 25' (Bassett)
Gardner-Webb:
Notes:
- Denver's 13th win of the season ties for the fifth-most in a season in the program's DI history.
- The Pioneers improved to 8-11-1 in their NCAA Tournament history, and stretched its streak with at least one win in a tournament to four-straight years.
- DU improved to 2-5 all-time in the second round.
- Denver's three first half goals tied Denver's most in a half in an NCAA Tournament match with the three goals the Pioneers scored in the second half of Denver's win over UNLV in the 2016 NCAA Second Round.
- All three of Denver's first-half goals were 6:32 apart, including 1:15 between Denver's second and third goals of the afternoon.
- Ben Smith's back-heeled opener was his second goal of the season and the sixth of his career.
- Keegan Kelly scored his third goal of his freshman season, and his first goal since the opening weekend of the season.
- Trevor Wright headed home his second goal of the season and the seventh of his career.
- Bryce Willoughby provided the primary helper on Smith's opener, his third assist of the season and the fourth of his career.
- Ronan Wynne earned the secondary assist on the breakthrough, his sixth assist of the season and the 13th of his career.
- Sam Bassett assisted on both dead ball restarts for Denver's second and third goals of the day, moving his single-season total to 12 assists and his career total to 25.
- Bassett's two assists gave him the single-season record originally held by Michael Piserchio (2001).
- Bassett's career record for assists moved to 25.
First Half:
6' Denver switched the play from its right to its left to the run of Dylan Akau down the channel. Akau got to the endline and played it to Keegan Kelly at the penalty spot, but the ball bounced up on the freshman and it rose over the bar.
19' The Pioneers got an early breakthrough off the feet of captain Ben Smith to give Denver a reward for its early first-half pressure. Bryce Willoughby and Ronan Wynne played 2v1 down the Denver right which got Willoughby free near the endline on the right side. Willoughby picked out the run of Smith who back-heeled it into the back of the net to put the Pioneers in-front.
24' After being disappointed with a -2 margin on restarts in last week's Summit League Final, the Pioneers got a restart goal of their own. Sam Bassett played a free kick from 20 yards in his own half in the middle of the field to the back-post run of Kelly, who followed the ball through a couple bodies and finished a diving header to double Denver's first-half advantage.
25' Right off the kickoff, Denver countered quickly and earned a corner. Bassett played his set-piece just inside the penalty spot to the run of centerback
Trevor Wright who had a thundering header to make it 3-0 Denver.
Second Half:
50' Elias Khodri got the first shot on goal of the afternoon for the visitors, but Isaac Nehme made the save and the rebound effort skied over his bar.
58' Sam Bassett had a go from outside the 18 for a goal of his own on Sunday afternoon, bouncing his 25-yard attempt in-front of the goalkeeper, but the keeper made the save.
62' Isaac Nehme's best save of the afternoon came just after the hour mark when Max Fisher got on the end of a corner kick, but the junior keeper dove to his left to make the save.
66' Tyler Schommer looked to re-create some NCAA Tournament magic off a ball in-behind, but his 1v1 attempt was saved and the danger cleared.
79' After some good combination play in the middle of the park, Aidan Semelsberger found Kyle McGowan at the top of the box, and his strike was saved and pushed out for a corner.
DENVER'S HOME FOR COLLEGE SPORTS
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of Denver's NCAA Division I sports.
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Men's Soccer on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_MSoccer on Twitter
Follow @denverpioneers and @denversoccer on Instagram
