DENVER – Sophomore Keegan Kelly put away a natural hat trick in a 21:18 span in the second half to send the [RV/-] University of Denver men's soccer program through to the Summit League Final with a 4-1 win over Oral Roberts in the Summit League Semifinal on Sunday afternoon at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
Goals:
[RV] Denver: Willoughby 67' (Wright, Olsson), Kelly 68' (Smith, Lund), 87' (Semelsberger), 89' (Willoughby, Carlson)
Oral Roberts: Mesidor 37' (pen)
Notes:
- With the win, Denver improved to 18-8-5 in its conference tournament history, including 16-1-4 in Summit League Tournament play.
- The Pioneers are 9-5-2 in the semifinal round in their Division I history, including 9-0-2 in Summit League Tournament play.
- Denver scored its eighth goal off a set piece this season, including its fifth off a corner kick to level the match at 1-1.
- The Pioneers improved to 115-23-19 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium, including 80-10-10 since Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks took over as the bench boss in 2015.
- Denver's win was its 10th of the season, the Pios fifth-straight double-digit win year and the 17th in their Division I history.
- The Pioneers scored four goals for the first time this season, and the first time since last October at St. Thomas (W, 4-0).
- Redshirt junior midfielder Holger Olsson made his first start on Saturday since starting his sixth of six-straight to open the season on September 8 against Cal Poly.
- Kelly's hat trick was Denver's 15th in its Division I history, including the fifth fastest hat trick between goals one and three in the Pioneers' record book.
- The hat trick was also the eighth in a Summit League Tournament match in the league's history, and the last two have been scored by Pioneers with Oje Ofunrein scoring three goals in Tulsa in the 2023 Summit League Semifinal.
- Kelly's final two goals marked the first time Denver had scored two goals in the final five minutes of the same match in DU's DI history.
- Kelly's final two goals were the 10th-fastest goals scored by the same player in Denver's DI history (2:17).
First Half:
36' Tyler Schommer had the best look of the opening half, making a near post run on a corner and flashing a header to the back post, but the header was cleared off the line.
37' Oral Roberts first bit of possession in Denver's box led to a penalty when Jake Smith tripped up the ORU attacker and after video review the referee pointed to the spot. Jeff Mesidor converted the spot kick to give the visitors the lead.
Denver had a 72-28% possession advantage, and a 7-0 edge in corners in the opening 45 minutes.
Second Half:
51' Trevor Wright got on the end of an early corner to start the second half, but his header was wide of the far post.
54' Bryce Willoughby got free on Denver's next corner kick attempt, but he wasn't able to get enough on it to direct it towards the frame.
67' Denver finally found the much-deserved equalizer on a set piece, a goal Willoughby was able to put home for his fourth of the season. Holger Olsson played the corner in to the area that was initially headed by Trevor Wright. Wright's header went down to the feet of Willoughby who back-heeled it into the net for the Pioneers leveler.
68' The semifinal game-winner came 1:21 later when
Keegan Kelly scored his second goal in as many matches.
Grant Lund played it over to
Jake Smith just inside the Pioneers attacking half. Smith served a 30-yard floating ball just to the left of the penalty spot for Kelly to run onto. Kelly outjumped the keeper and headed it over his outstretched hands and into the empty net to put Denver ahead 2-1 with just over 22 minutes to play.
87' With Oral Roberts looking for an equalizer of its own, Lund made an important block in the box that fell to the feet of
Aidan Semelsberger. Semelsberger took a touch to his right and played a 50-yard direct ball to the 1-on-1 run of Kelly. Kelly took a couple touches to the top of the box and slid it by the keeper to cap off the first multi-goal game of his career.
89' Denver added a fourth when
Kai Carlson hit the run of Willoughby down the Denver right. Willoughby cut in and slid it back to the penalty spot to the run of Kelly, who opened up his hips and knocked it inside the far post to complete his hat trick.
Up Next
Denver will host the Summit League Final next Saturday against this evening's winner between No. 2 seed Kansas City and No. 3 seed Delaware. Saturday's championship will kickoff at 3 p.m. MT, and be streamed on the Summit League Network.
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