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University of Denver
Senior Day
C. Morgan Engel/Clarkson Creative Photography
0
Oral Roberts ORU (4-9-2, 1-3-1)
2
Winner Denver DEN (9-7-1, 4-1-0)
Oral Roberts ORU
(4-9-2, 1-3-1)
0
Final
2
Denver DEN
(9-7-1, 4-1-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Oral Roberts ORU 0 0 0
Denver DEN 1 1 2

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Niko Blankenship

[RV] Denver Earns Senior Saturday Win over Oral Roberts

The Pioneers kept their fourth cleansheet in the last five matches on Saturday

DENVER – The [RV/-] University of Denver men's soccer program nailed down its second-consecutive 2-0 win, this one at home over Oral Roberts on Senior Saturday at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

Following the match on Saturday, Denver honored four seniors in: Dylan Akau, Isaac Nehme, Gabe Schwartz and Aidan Semelsberger.

Goals:
[RV] Denver: Lund 4' (Smith), McGowan 61'
Oral Roberts:  

Notes:

  • Denver improved to 114-23-19 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium since it opened in 2009, including 104-14-13 in their home stadium since Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks joined the staff in 2012.
  • The Pioneers improved to 64-9-9 in Summit League regular season play, including 55-7-8 since Franks took over as head coach in 2015.
  • With one more win on Wednesday at St. Thomas, Denver would earn its 11th Summit League regular season title in 13 seasons.
  • Denver improved to and will finish the regular season 7-7-1 against teams that finished in the top-100 of the RPI a year ago.
  • The Pioneers moved to 25th in the RPI with the victory on Saturday.
  • Grant Lund's header in the opening five minutes was the first of his career.
  • Lund's goal was Denver's seventh off a set piece this season, and its third directly off a corner.
  • Jake Smith played the corner to setup Lund's breakthrough, his first assist of the season and the fourth of his career.
  • Kyle McGowan netted his third goal in the last two matches, his seventh of the season and the 10th of his career. The goal is also McGowan's fourth in Summit League matches this season.
  • The cleansheet was the Pioneers fourth shutout in their last five matches, after having just one in the opening 12 competitions.
  • Isaac Nehme's career shutout record for Denver now sits at 34. Nehme's record win total moved up to 49 after Saturday's match.
  • Nehme and Trevor Wright made their 80th career starts on Saturday, tying for second in program history and three behind the record held by Scott DeVoss (2015-18).
  • Dylan Akau made his 82nd career appearance on Saturday to move into sixth on Denver's Division I list.

First Half:
4' Bryce Willoughby earned Denver its first set piece of the match. Jake Smith played the corner from right next to the home bench, and picked out the authoritative run of Grant Lund who gave the keeper no chance with a thundering header.
19' Willoughby created Denver's second opportunity of the half as well. Kyle McGowan dribbled in the middle of the field before spraying the ball out to the run of Willoughby. The Denver redshirt-junior got the ball to his left and hit it hard and low, a shot the ORU keeper didn't handle cleanly but was able to get on the rebound quickly.
23' McGowan earned Denver its second corner of the afternoon when he had a hit from the top of the box that was blocked in-front and saved by the keeper, who pushed it in behind for a corner.
35' Will King got on the end of a quickly-taken corner kick service from Smith, hitting a high-floating header to the far post that was cleared off the line by a ORU defender.

Denver outshot Oral Roberts 8-1 and had a 5-0 edge in corners in the opening 45 minutes.

Second Half:
61' McGowan kept his hot run of form going, backing up his brace last week with his seventh of the campaign. With Denver in the press, McGowan pick-pocketed the ORU back line and took three touches to setup his strike from the top of the box.
81' Denver continued to build on the pressure despite the two-goal lead, and Willoughby got a feed from Schultz before nearly making it 3-0 from the top of the box. Joao Mesquita made the save.

Up Next:
Denver will close out the 2025 regular season on Wednesday afternoon when the Pioneers head to St. Thomas. Opening kickoff on the Summit League Network is set for 1 p.m. MT. 

Ticket Information:
Tickets are on sale now for the 2025 Denver men's soccer season. Purchase tickets for the rest of the 2025 campaign here.

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