Tyler Schank/Clarkson Creative Photography

Men's Soccer

Denver downs UC Irvine in NCAA First Round

The Pioneers advance to NCAA Second Round off second-half goals from McGowan, Schultz

DENVER – The [RV/-] University of Denver men's soccer program defeated UC Irvine, 2-0, in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament on Thursday evening at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
 
Denver now advances to play No. 8 seed Portland on Sunday at 7 p.m. MT at Merlo Field, a match that will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
Goals:
[RV] Denver: McGowan 71', Schultz 75'
 
Notes:

  • Denver is now 11-11-2 (1-2) in its NCAA Tournament history, including 4-4-1 (1-1) in the first round and 8-2-0 at home.
  • Denver is now 2-4-1 against UC Irvine, with the last win coming in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season match in 2000.
  • Denver is 135-46-35 under Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks, ranking sixth in the country in wins since 2015 behind Wake Forest, Indiana, Clemson, Georgetown and Stanford. The Pioneers are also seventh in fewest losses in that span.
  • The Pioneers are 117-23-19 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium since it was built in 2009, 107-14-13 since Franks joined the staff in 2012 and 82-10-10 since he took over as head coach in 2015.
  • Franks is 10-8-2 in the NCAA Tournament at DU, including 10-7-1 as the head coach. Combining his time as a player and coach both at Wake Forest and Denver, Franks is 26-12-4 in the NCAA postseason.
  • Denver collected its sixth clean sheet of the season and its third in the last six matches – all three by 2-0 scorelines.
  • Seniors Trevor Wright and Isaac Nehme both broke Denver's Division I record for career starts, making their 84th career start to pass Scott DeVoss (2015-18, 83).
  • Senior Dylan Akau made his 86th career appearance on Thursday, one behind Aidan O'Toole's program record of 87 appearances.
  • Nehme earned the 35th clean sheet of his career, becoming the all-time leader in Summit League history and extending his DU-best lead to nine over the next closest in Denver's NCAA Division I history (Nick Gardner, 26).
  • Redshirt junior Kyle McGowan became the seventh player in the program's DI history to record double-digit goals in a single season (10).
  • Thursday was the second time in McGowan's career to have a goal and an assist in a single match (also: October 26, 2024, at St. Thomas).
  • Redshirt sophomore Luke Schultz scored his third goal of the season, giving him 11 total points thus far.
  • The two Denver goals were scored just 3:17 apart, the 51st quickest consecutive goals and the 12th fastest in the postseason in DU's DI history.
  • Redshirt junior Bryce Willoughby moved into a tie for second most points on the roster with his assist on McGowan's goal.
  • McGowan and sophomore Keegan Kelly each recorded their third assist of the season while freshman Kai Carlson logged his second.

 
First Half:
24' Akau registered DU's first shot of the match on an approach inside the box but had it blocked away.
 
26' On a second attempt off the first Denver corner was cleared away, Semelsberger dodged around the edge of the box and tried to curl the ball inside the near post, only to have it blocked.
 
45' | A late free kick for UC Irvine saw Brady Treinen's initial take blocked by the DU wall before his rebound shot sailed high over Nehme's net.
 
Second Half:
71' Carlson fed Willoughby through the right edge of the box. Willoughby's cross through the box went untouched through to McGowan near the penalty spot where the redshirt junior redirected the ball low toward the near post. UCI's Joe O'Shoughnessy made the initial save, but McGowan was there to immediately force the rebound into the back of the net.
 
75' Just over three minutes later, McGowan and Kelly traded quick passes at the edge of the 18-yard box before getting the ball to Schultz, who beat the keeper at the near post in the upper corner to double the Denver lead.
 
85' Nehme preserved the shutout with a kick save off a shot from UCI's Isaac Powell, the DU goalkeeper's second save of the night.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's soccer team will travel to No. 8 seed Portland for the NCAA Second Round on Sunday, November 23, at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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