St. John’s 1-2 Denver (Ricupati 9’, Stevenson 61’ Crosswait 97’)

QUEENS, N.Y. – Redshirt-junior Chandler Crosswait (Bedford, Texas) netted his second game-winner in as many matches to send the [19/20] University of Denver men’s soccer team to a 2-1 extra time victory over St. John’s on Saturday night at Belson Stadium.

“For us, it’s a great result on the road,” head coach Jamie Franks said. “To not play your best soccer in a tough environment with rain and heavy winds and still come out with a win tonight just reaffirms with our program that we have a high-character group of guys that showed a ton of resiliency out there. The sign of a good team is bouncing back the way we did after a poor first half. I thought we really took it to them and played our brand of soccer in the second half.”

St. John’s netted the breakthrough in the ninth minute on a near-post header from Filippo Ricupati on an assist by Mike Prosuck. The Pioneers (4-0-1) quickly got back into the game after conceding as freshman striker Andre Shinyashiki (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and sophomore winger Alex Underwood (Winnetka, Ill.) both got shots on target in the six minutes after the goal, but both were kept out by St. John’s keeper Jordan Stagmiller.

Each team took five first-half shots, and the Pioneers held a 3-2 edge in corners at the intermission.

Sophomore Cole Stevenson (Leawood, Kan.) curled in a left-footed strike for the equalizer in the 61st minute, finishing from 10-yards out on assists from Crosswait and redshirt-junior outside back Reagan Dunk (Dallas, Texas). Stevenson’s goal was his second of the 2015 campaign, while Dunk and Crosswait picked up their fourth and third assists of the season, respectively.

Crosswait’s winner came in the 97th minute as his shot was deflected in-front and got past Red Storm goalkeeper Jordan Stagmiller. 

Denver already has four points from losing positions in 2015 (1-0-1). From 2012-14, the Pioneers grabbed just 11 points from losing positions (3-15-2).

UP NEXT: The Pioneers will wrap-up a brief two-match road swing with a trip to [16/15] Saint Louis on Friday (Sept. 18) at 6 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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