Unbeaten Denver advanced to the Men’s College Cup for the first time when it beat No. 3 seed Clemson, 1-0, on Kortne Ford‘s goal with 50 seconds left in regulation.
Ford scored hisfifth goal of the season on a header off Alex Underwood‘s cross to send the Pioneers to next Friday’s semifinals in Houston against the winner of Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. A meetingwith Wake Forest would pit the Pioneers against their former coach, Bobby Muuss, who took over the Demon Deacons ahead of the 2015 season.
“For us to be able to come to Clemsonwith as many people rooting against us and for my guys to continue to stand up, their resiliency, their fight and their togetherness makes them a special group,” said second-year head coachJamie Franks, who is 35-1-6. “We’re going to Houston to get a trophy. Clemson it is a great team. It was an ugly soccer game, but that’s what the games look like this time ofyear. They are really good at finding the pockets, but for the most part I thought we neutralized that well and did a good job of keeping them out wide.”
Nick Gardner was calledupon to make just two saves for Denver, but perhaps none bigger this season than in the 87th minute as he retreated back to his line to push an Alex Happi chance over the crossbar.
Dec. 2 in Clemson
Clemson 0 Denver 1. Goal: Ford (Underwood) 90.
Denver — Gardner; Dunk, Devoss, Hamilton, Shinyashiki,Smith, Hanlin, Fuller, Ford, Crosswait, Underwood.
Clemson — Miralles, Bunk-Anderse, Shannon, Dieterich, Mafi, Campos, Jones, Raynor, Mbaye, Moreno, Burnikel. Subs: Chinchilla, Happi,Fielden.
Att.: 4,101.