Online Release | Saint Louis 0-1 Denver (Stevenson 14’)

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – Sophomore Cole Stevenson (Leawood, Kan.) netted the 14th-minute breakthrough and redshirt-senior Dan Jackson (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and the [15/17] University of Denver defense kept its third clean sheet of the campaign to send the Pioneers past [RV/16] Saint Louis 1-0 on Friday night at Hermann Stadium.

“It was a great result on the road,” head coach Jamie Franks said. “My guys showed they have the character, discipline and mentality to play with anyone in the country.  I did not think we played our best tonight, but we got a result and that’s what matters.  I thought we were compact in our shape and picked our moments when to take some chances going forward.  We played great in the first half and really had momentum, but knew that St. Louis would come out in the second half and press higher up the field.” 

Friday night’s victory snapped SLU’s 20-match home unbeaten and 14-match home winning streak, previously the second-longest active streaks in the nation. The Pioneers (21/19) will look to defend the nation’s top streaks in those two categories Sunday when they welcome [RV/RV] Utah Valley to CIBER Field (7 p.m. MT).

Stevenson opened the scoring for the Pioneers (5-0-1) in the 14th minute off a feed from sophomore winger Alex Underwood (Winnetka, Ill.). Redshirt-junior Karsten Hanlin (Centennial, Colo.) started the opportunity down the left, playing a dangerous ball into the area, but Saint Louis (3-2-0) keeper Sascha Otte temporarily cleared the danger, punching the ball out of the box. Underwood ran onto the loose ball, and played a crafty weighted pass to Stevenson who turned and finished from 10-yards out into the bottom right corner.

Friday night’s winner was the fourth goal of Stevenson’s career, including his third in the 2015 campaign. Denver is now 36-2-5 since 2012 when scoring the opener, and has kept 24 clean sheets in that span (23-0-1).

Jackson was called on to make just one save in the match on Friday night, keeping out SLU’s Jair Minors’ 80th-minute shot out. The match saw 20 fouls called, including 14 against the Pioneers. SLU held a 4-1 advantage in corners.

“I thought that we limited them to only a few chances and defended well late,” Franks said. “I am happy for the guys as it is well deserved, but we also understand how important Sunday’s game is.  All of our focus and preparation turn to getting a result Sunday night at home, and I look forward to watching the boys compete again.” 

UP NEXT: The Pioneers will return home for the first time in the month of September to take on [RV/RV] Utah Valley on Sunday at 7 p.m. MT.

TICKETS: Single-game tickets for the 2015 Denver men’s are on sale now, and can be purchased online, here. 

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