REMATCH: men's soccer hosts Denver Sunday in NCAAs

[PonyPride]

The sixth-seeded SMU men's soccer team will get another crack at the only team to defeat the Mustangs in the regular season: the Denver Pioneers. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium. SMU students get free admission.


From denverpioneers.com:

Denver Takes Down LIU 2-1 in NCAA First Round

The Pioneers will head to Dallas on Sunday to take on No. 6 SMU

DENVER – The University of Denver men's soccer team got responses from Bryce Willoughby and Tyler Schommer in the 80th and 83rd minute after going a goal down to defeat LIU 2-1 in the NCAA First Round on Thursday evening at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

Significant Stats:

- Bryce Willoughby scored his fifth of the season, and his third goal in the last four matches to level the score on Thursday night.

- Freshman Tyler Schommer's first goal of his career was the game-winner with just over seven minutes to go in the match.

- Aidan O'Toole had assists on both goals, his second multi-assist game of his career (2022 season opener vs. Gonzaga).

- Sam Bassett, who earned the primary assist on the Schommer game-winner, earned his seventh assist of the season, good for second on the team this year.

- Ian Smith had the primary assist on Willoughby's equalizer, his fourth in the last three matches and his team-high eighth of the season.

- Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Jamie Franks improved to 6-7-1 in the NCAA Tournament at DU (6-6 as the head coach) and 22-11-3 as a player and coach combined.

- Thursday evening broke a stretch of nine-straight games in which Denver scored a goal in the first half.

- Denver improved to 7-10-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and will play in the second round for the sixth time in the last 11 years.

- Willoughby and Schommer's goals came 2:44 apart, Denver's 29th-quickest consecutive goals in Denver's Division I history, and the fastest consecutive goals for the Pioneers in an NCAA Tournament match.

First Half:
9' Sam Bassett had the best look of the opening 10 minutes. Ian Smith found Holger Olsson down the left flank. Olsson played his cross on the ground to the round of Bassett at the penalty spot, but his one-time strike was directly at the goalkeeper.

12' Oje Ofunrein got on the end of a Dylan Akau cross, but his glancing header stayed wide of his near-post run and out for a goal kick.

20' Ofunrein got free on his run off Bassett's second corner of the afternoon, but his header was tipped by the goalie off the crossbar and over for another corner.

Second Half:
51' Akau had the first look of the second half, but his attempt from outside the box sliced wide of the far post and out for a goal kick.

54' Olsson took Denver's first corner of the second half, playing Bassett to the top of the box, but the co-captain's shot targeted for inside of the bar post was blocked in-front by an LIU defender and out for another corner.

67' Emil Jaaskelainen headed home an Alan Martinez corner on LIU's second shot of the day to give the visitors the advantage against the run of play.

73' Bassett had Denver's first good crack at an equalizer, a free kick from the top of the box that was tipped over the crossbar by the goalie and out for another Denver corner.

80' Bryce Willoughby's got Denver back on level terms with just over 10 minutes to play in regulation. Aidan O'Toole connected with Ian Smith down the Denver left. Smith's cross at the top of the six-yard box found the tallest head on the field to even things at a goal apiece.

83' The Pioneers rode the momentum to the game-winner. O'Toole and Bassett combined down the right side this time. Bassett's cross from well off the endline found Denver freshman Tyler Schommer's head for the game-winner.

Up Next:
The Pioneers will head to sixth-seeded SMU on Sunday for a 6 p.m. MT kickoff on ESPN+.

[Water Pony]

Good luck on Sunday. Two goals for the team are revenge for earlier loss and winning a Playoff game in order to advance.

Pony Up, Men!

[Sewanee Stang]

Ponies up 2-0 at halftime

[Dukie]

An *ABSOLUTELY* horrible call with 22 minutes left; SMU GK Cole got the ball first and a Denver forward blasts into him. Somehow the ref calls a foul on Cole and award Denver a PK. 2-1.

[Sewanee Stang]

That was a bad call, but the Ponies win. Thank God for goal posts. 2-1 Mustangs. Denver has a solid squad.

[Dukie]

That was a bad call, but the Ponies win. Thank God for goal posts. 2-1 Mustangs. Denver has a solid squad.

Denver are a chippy bunch of whiners, even for soccer players. I’m not mad how much this will hurt for them. On to the next round. Oregon State is up 3-0 on #11 seed Portland so the Beavers will be coming to Dallas.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

Only caught the last 30 minutes but felt SMU was way too conservative. It doesn’t seem to work well for the team as it played the same way against Charlotte. Maybe it was due to holding a 2-0 lead but the team needs to play to win vs not to lose. The penalty was ridiculous but I noticed our goalkeeper tends to go out to get balls a bit recklessly. He needs to remain more composed. Denver definitely played better during the 30 minutes I watched but they were desperate. If the team continues to play timid, I don’t think it will go get very far in the tournament. Hope the coach tells them to always go for more and be the aggressor.

[Charleston Pony]

Didn't get to watch any of this one but it's survive and advance time and that's a nice way to start the post season with a "revenge" win

[Terry Webster]

I was watching the game on tv and wonder about that penalty call on the keeper. Can someone explain why our keeper was called? The tv guys wouldn't speculate.

[Hop Sing]

That was a bad call, but the Ponies win. Thank God for goal posts. 2-1 Mustangs. Denver has a solid squad.

Lol the balls bouncing off the goal posts in the last few minutes almost gave me a heart attack!

[Dukie]

I was watching the game on tv and wonder about that penalty call on the keeper. Can someone explain why our keeper was called? The tv guys wouldn't speculate.

ESPN+ announcers were in the tank for Denver.

They said nothing about the validity of the call because the call was indefensible. Often a penalty is called on the attacking player because goalies get extra protection even though that was a 50-50 ball. And because Cole (SMU GK) got the ball first, clearly, there really should have been a foul on Denver.

[Hop Sing]

I was watching the game on tv and wonder about that penalty call on the keeper. Can someone explain why our keeper was called? The tv guys wouldn't speculate.

ESPN+ announcers were in the tank for Denver.

They said nothing about the validity of the call because the call was indefensible. Often a penalty is called on the attacking player because goalies get extra protection even though that was a 50-50 ball. And because Cole (SMU GK) got the ball first, clearly, there really should have been a foul on Denver.

That was a pretty physical game with Denver being the aggressor, which made that call even more absurd. You were being kind when you called them “chippy”.