[9/14] Denver Wins Fifth Summit League Title
DENVER – The [9/14] University of Denver men’s soccer team defeated Omaha 1-0 in the Summit League Final on Saturday afternoon at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
With the victory, the Pioneers won their 11th Summit League trophy in their six seasons in the league, including their fifth Summit League Tournament crown. Saturday marked the third-consecutive meeting in the Summit League Final between Denver and Omaha, with the Pioneers winning at home in 2016 and Omaha taking an 11-round penalty kick shootout in 2017 at Caniglia Field.
Denver’s 15th victory of the season on Saturday moved this year’s team into a tie for sixth in wins in program history, matching the 1990 (15-6-1) and 2015 (15-1-3) teams.
The Pioneers will now await their postseason draw in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Soccer Selection Show scheduled for Monday at 11 a.m. MT on NCAA.com.
Senior centerback Scott DeVoss (Centennial, Colo.) was named the 2018 Summit League Tournament MVP, while sophomore outside back Jacob Stensson (Stockholm, Sweden), winger Kenny Akamatsu (Niigata, Japan) and attacking mid Moshe Perez (Shim’a, Israel) joined DeVoss on the All-Tournament Team.
Akamatsu put Denver in-front in the 15th minute, picking off an Omaha pass near the right touch-line before cutting it back to the center of the park, and curling his shot into the corner from outside the 18-yard box. Akamatsu’s breakthrough was his fourth goal of the season and the seventh of his four-year Pioneer career.
Omaha outshot the Pioneers 14-12 in the match, but failed to put a shot on target in the 90 minutes. The Pioneers’ defense has held opponents to two shots on goal or less in 10 matches this season, including holding Monmouth, Western Illinois and now Omaha without a shot on goal this year.
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