SEATTLE – The [9/4] University of Denver men's soccer program and Washington split four goals two apiece on Thursday night at Huskey Soccer Stadium.
Scoring Summary:
[9] Denver: Bassett 23' (I. Smith), Ofunrein 81' (Wynne)
Washington: Bertos 63' (Kingston), Akulov 86' (Kingston, Meyers)
Significant Stats:
- Sam Bassett's goal was his first of the season to go along with his fourth point of the campaign.
- Bassett's breakthrough was the 16th of his career, good for eighth on Denver's DI list.
- Bassett also has 47 career points, hopping Brian Todd for seventh on DU's DI points list.
- Ian Smith recorded the assist off a throw-in on Bassett's first-half opener, his first assist, his third point of the season and the 12th assist of his career.
- Oje Ofunrein scored his first goal of the season to give Denver the lead back in the final 10 minutes of the second half, finding the back of the net for the 14th time in his career.
- Ofunrein's goal puts him in a tie for ninth on Denver's Division I list, two goals behind his teammate Bassett for eighth.
- Ronan Wynne provided the assist on the Ofunrein goal, the eighth helper of his career. Two of Ronan's final three assists in his last season of play in 2022 were to setup Ofunrein goals.
- Denver dropped to 2-0-1 on the season halfway through a six-match season-opening road swing that features five Power-4 teams and five programs that finished last season in the RPI Top-40.
First Half:
22' Denver's first real opportunity of the opening 30 minutes came on the counter as a long ball over the top of the Washington defense fell to the feet of Dylan Akau in a 2-on-2 situation. Akau's attempt just outside the box was blocked and sent out for a throw-in.
23' Off the throw-in, Ian Smith threw it in the middle of the park to the run of Sam Bassett. Bassett allowed it to run by him, let it bounce a couple times to lineup to the middle of the frame and then fired his first goal of the season from outside the box and into the bottom right corner to put the Pioneers ahead.
23' Washington got its first attempt on goal just 18 seconds after the Denver goal, but
Isaac Nehme was up to the challenge for his first save of the night.
30' Minutes after coming on the field,
Bryce Willoughby got a shot off from the top of the box, but it bounced wide of the target and out for a goal kick.
Second Half:
46' Washington created some of their best attacking possession and opportunities in the early stages of the second half, but a diving punched out cross by Nehme followed up by a Ben Smith blocked shot on the rebound kept the ball out of the Denver net.
52' Charlie Kosakoff got free down the Washington right, but the Denver defense was able to limit his angle and Nehme protected his near post and punched Washington's second shot on goal of the night out for a corner.
53' Keegan Kelly's first attacking threat of the night saw the freshman get by his defender at the top of the box before drawing a Washington foul resulting in the second Huskey yellow card of the night. Bassett's resulting free kick was saved well by the Washington keeper, who held onto the shot to provide no rebound opportunity.
57' Off Denver's first corner of the night, the Washington keeper punched the Bassett service outside of the box, but Aidan Semelsberger was able to run onto it and get a shot off first time, but he couldn't keep it under the bar and it went out for a goal kick.
63' Washington found its equalizer off its fourth corner kick of the evening. Peter Kingston hit a line-drive from the corner flag that fell to the feet of Harrison Bertos, who kicked the bouncing ball into the open net from just outside the six-yard box to level the score.
78' Denver's first chance to retake the lead came off a Bassett corner in the final quarter hour, but Washington dealt with it well and cleared it out of Denver's attacking third.
81' Denver retook the lead with under 10 minutes to play when Ronan Wynne dialed up a long-ball to the penetrating run of Oje Ofunrein. Ofunrein let the ball bounce a couple times and looked up before chipping the keeper to put the Pioneers back in-front late.
86' The Huskies once again found the response. Egor Akulov headed in Washington's 10th corner of the night to level the match at 2-2.
UP NEXT:
The Pioneers will play the fourth match of their season-opening six-match homestand on Sunday when Denver takes on [RV/16] SMU in Dallas. Opening kickoff to close out the second week of the regular season is set for 6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets for the 2024 season are on sale now and can be purchased here. Denver opens its home schedule on September 14 against Yale, a 7 p.m. MT kickoff.
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