DENVER – No. 4 Denver scored in the second minute and later added another goal to defeat the Drake University men's soccer team, 2-0, Sunday night at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
"I am very proud of the guys and their performances this weekend," said head coach
Gareth Smith. "We played two top teams and our guys showed that we can compete with some of the best teams in the country. We were a little inexperienced at times, but we showed good character in tough moments, especially when we went a man down in the first half."
Denver (3-1), who on Friday night lost its first regular season match since 2014 with a 1-0 defeat to Furman, wasted little time against Drake (0-3). Ryan Barlow headed in a throw in by his teammate, Alex Underwood, to put the Pioneers up 1-0 just 1:40 into the match.
Redshirt sophomore
Alex Peterson (Duluth, Minn.) sent a shot high in the 16
th minute for Drake. However, it would be the only shot of the first half for the Bulldogs. Out of halftime, Drake had its final scoring attempts with back-to-back shots by graduate transfer
Jake Taylor (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and freshman
Touko Laakkonen (Helsinki, Finland) in the first minute of the final half. Taylor's header was saved by Denver goalkeeper, Nick Gardner, and later Laakkonen's shot hit the post. The Bulldogs played the entire second half with just 10 after senior
Aleksi Tuominen (Helsinki, Finland) received a red card right before halftime.
The second goal for Denver happened in the 63
rd minute as Underwood's free kick was initially saved by Drake redshirt freshman goalkeeper
Caden McCullough (Evansville, Ind.), but McCullough tipped the ball straight up in the air and Graham Smith finished the ball into the back of the empty net to put the Pioneers up 2-0.
Drake finished with three shots while McCullough made three saves.
"Denver is a first-class team but showed we can go toe-to-toe with them," Smith said. "We are enjoying the challenge of a tough schedule as we know it is really good for our growth and development short and long term. Our team spirit is strong and we are eager to get back on the road for the game against DePaul next week."
Drake continues its road trip at DePaul on Sept. 8 before finally playing at home on Sept. 10 when Western Michigan visits the Cownie Soccer Complex.
