MACOMB, Ill. -- Top-seeded Denver moved onto its eighth straight #SummitMSOC Championship title game after advancing 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 0-0 draw with fourth-seeded Kansas City.The Pioneers and the Roos went scoreless through 90 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of extra time before DU found a way into its eighth straight final.
Senior Kobe Gray was inserted into goal for the Pios during the penalty-kick session after Will DeSantis played the first 110 minutes of game play and fended off the only shot Kansas City got on goal. With penalty kicks tied at 3-3, Gray made a diving stop on the Roos' fifth attempt and Lucas Russo buried the Pios final attempt to secure the win.
The Pioneers supplied most of the pressure during the match, outshooting the Roos 17-6 with five of those attempts coming on goal.
Kansas City's Cooper Clark, the league's reigning two-time Goalkeeper of the Year, kept a clean sheet though, including making a save in the second overtime period on a shot by Aidan O'Toole, who had gotten open in the middle of the box.
Denver will take on the winner of No. 2 Oral Roberts and No. 3 Omaha in the Summit League Final on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
Turning point
- Fifth-year senior Kobe Gray stopped his second penalty kick on Kansas City's fifth attempt and Lucas Russo buried the Pios' fifth attempt to lift DU to the victory
Inside the box score
- Denver held a 17-6 edge in shots and put five of those on goal, while the Roos only managed to put one of its shots on frame
- Kansas City goalkeeper Cooper Clark made five saves in the match
- Kengo Ohira led all players with four shots, but could not find the frame on any of his attempts
- Defensive Player of the Year Liam Johnson put two of his three shots on goal from the back line for DU
News & Notes
- This is Denver's eighth straight visit to the #SummitMSOC title match as the Pioneers look to break a league-record for most tournament titles with their seventh. They currently hold that mark at six with Western Illinois
- The Pioneers have won five of those titles as the top seed, which they are for the seventh time this season
- The last match at the #SummitMSOC Championship to reach penalty kicks was the 2017 final when No. 3 Omaha won the title by defeating the top-seeded Pioneers 9-8
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