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Sarah Twidwell

Men's Soccer Takes On Denver In Road Test

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks up to challenge against top-10 rated Denver.

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois men's soccer starts a three-game road swing by visiting Summit League foe Denver under the lights at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20.

LAST TIME OUT: 
The Western Illinois men's soccer team (2-8-3, 0-2-1) fell a goal short in a 2-1 loss to Omaha (3-5-1, 2-1-0) on Saturday, Oct. 13.
 
Daniel Kadima headed the ball left of the net on a nice service by Luke Duball in the 15th minute. Omaha broke the scoreless tie to take a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute when Diego Gutierrez inside the box, tucked the ball into the bottom right corner for his sixth goal of the season. The purple and gold trailed 1-0 at halftime.
 
The Leathernecks looked to answer right away during the 47th minute as Paul Kirdorf fired a shot directly at the Omaha goalkeeper for the first save of the match. One minute later, Gutierrez drew Tim Trilk out of the goal and tapped the ball into the back of the net as the Mavericks snagged a 2-0 advantage. Jacob Bjornsen headed the ball in the box to the Omaha keeper in the 58th minute. Western Illinois got on the board in the 63rd minute when Kirdorf delivered the ball to Jonah Dancer to strike it into the right corner of the net for the first collegiate goal of his career.
 
With the deficit cut in half 2-1 in the 72nd minute, a slicing shot by Jamsion Kozar was corralled. The match went down to the wire, but the final Leatherneck shot from Kirdorf in the 88th minute was saved as the Mavericks held for a 2-1 win.
 
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS: 
Denver is currently 10-2-2 overall and is ranked seventh in the nation. The Pioneers are coming off their first two losses of the season at Virginia 3-0 (Oct. 8) and at Maryland 1-0 (Oct. 16). Western Illinois lost in the regular season finale last year to Denver by a score of 1-0 in Macomb.
 
Former Denver assistant Jamie Franks is 66-12-12 in his fourth season at the helm. Franks won a championship as a player with Wake Forest in 2007. Senior forward Andre Shinyashiki leads the nation with 21 goals including four hat tricks. Senior midfielder Kenny Akamatsu paces the Pioneers in assists with six.
 
COACH JOHNSON'S THOUGHTS: 
"Great opportunity for our team," Director of Soccer Dr. Eric Johnson said. "It's crunch time in the Summit League and we need a result. We are playing very well, just need to limit our mistakes and find a goal on the road. They have one of the leading scorers in the country so our back line is excited about the matchup."
 
LOOKING AHEAD: 
The Leathernecks continue the road swing at Detroit on Tuesday, Oct. 23 for a non-league matchup at 12 p.m. (CT).
 
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