DENVER – The No. 4/3 University of Denver men's soccer team got a pair second-half tallies to open its season with a 2-0 win over [rv/-] Washington on Thursday night at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
Scoring Summary:
[4] Denver: Willoughby 49' (Welch, Schommer), Schultz 62' (Hanna, Welch)
Washington:
Notes:
- Denver improved to 108-22-19 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium since it was built in 2009, including 98-13-13 since Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks arrived on campus in 2012 and 73-9-10 since he took over as head coach in 2015.
- The Pioneers improved to 11-8-4 in their Division I history against teams receiving votes, including 6-5-2 at home.
- DU improved to 147-11-19 when scoring first since Franks arrived on staff as an assistant in 2012.
- The Crimson and Gold picked up their 12th win over a Power-4 conference team since Franks took over as head coach in 2015.
- Senior goalkeeper Isaac Nehme kept his 30th career cleansheet, extending his DU career record that he set last year.
- Nehme also picked up career win 42 (42-9-14) in his Denver career, tying former Pio Nick Gardner (2014-18) for the DU record.
- In his ninth career appearance, sophomore Luke Schultz scored his first career goal to double Denver's lead in the second half.
- Redshirt junior Bryce Willoughby scored the 11th goal of his career on Thursday night, and his sixth-career game-winning goal. The six game-winning goals ties for eighth in Denver's Division I history.
- Redshirt sophomore Ian Welch picked up two assists on Thursday, his first multi-helper game of his career, and assists three and four in his 14 matches with the Pioneers.
- Tyler Schommer earned the second assist on the Willoughby winner, the fifth assist of his career.
- In his collegiate debut, Kieran Hanna picked up the primary assist on Schultz's goal.
First Half:
10' Denver took the first corner of the night which resulted in the first two shots of the night, but Bryce Willoughby had both of his shots blocked in the left side of the penalty area, and Washington was able to clear its lines.
27' Washington had a good stretch of build-up that led to an attacking throw-in to setup its first two quality chances of the game. Charlie Kosakoff was the beneficiary of both chances, but it was the Pios backline this time that blocked the attempts in-front of Isaac Nehme's net and the Pios were ableto clear.
40' Washington's best two chances of the half came in quick succession. Alex Hall was denied in-front of goal with Nehme's first save of the season, before Nehme stood tall again on Cameron Cruz's rebound attempt.
Second Half:
49' Willoughby got Denver on the board in the minutes after halftime to give Denver the advantage. Tyler Schommer chested it to Ian Welch who played it over the top to the run of Willoughby down the left half of the field 30 yards out from goal. Willoughby took a touch off his shin forward to setup his shot from the top of the box that tucked inside the far post.
62'
Luke Schultz doubled Denver's advantage just after the hour mark. Welch played it from the left side of the box to
Kieran Hanna five yards outside of the box near the center of the frame. Hanna touched it to Schultz who took a couple touches to set up his shot from outside the area, across his body and into the bottom corner of the net.
79'
Keegan Kelly had a look to make it three, getting in behind and free for a shot at the top of the box, but the Washington keeper made a nice save to push it for a corner.
Up Next:
Denver will hit the road for the first time in the 2025 campaign on Sunday night when the Pioneers head to 13th-ranked Stanford. Opening kickoff is set for 8 p.m. MT on ACC Network Xtra.
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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