OBERLIN, Ohio (October 4, 2023) – 31 shots were attempted and 10 were put on goal, but none found the back of the net as for the second year in a row, the Denison University men's soccer team and Oberlin College played 90 minutes of soccer to a 0-0 tie.

A breakaway by Jake Krueger less than two minutes into the match saw a diving stop by goalkeeper Louis Berger, but then in the 17th minute, Oberlin's Xander Francoeur got the ball just past midfield, ran unimpeded toward the box, juked out two Big Red defenders and had a look against Tommy Prokos, but shanked the shot wide left.

One minute after Prokos saved a hard shot from outside the box by Toby Wells-Zimmerman in the 19th minute, Kameron Kist missed just to the left of the goal on a long shot.

The teams continued to trade shots as Kist's attempt in the 24th minute was blocked, and then the Big Red defense blocked a shot on a good scoring opportunity by Oberlin's Nasim Amer in the 29th minute.

Kist had an incredible opportunity in the middle of the box in the 30th minute, but Berger laid out for the stop.

Berger then continued to stand on his head and made a strong save on a one-on-one opportunity for Rohan Tripathy in the 32nd minute before Prokos made his second save of the match in the 34th minute.

Kist finished with five shots in the first half as Denison held a 9-5 advantage.

Denison opened up the second half with back-to-back corner kicks in the 50th minute, and then another corner by Cameron McIntosh in the 54th minute resulted in a header by Henri Heyes that missed wide.

Kist took a corner kick in the 56th minute that was just able to be knocked away from the goal by Berger and ended with a shot high by McIntosh.

After Oberlin just missed on a header in the 57th minute, Prokos made a save on a shot on goal in the 61st minute.

Kist missed wide in the 62nd and Krueger missed high and then wide in the 63rd and 64th minute, respectively, and Kist missed wide yet again in the 65th minute as Denison tried to keep the pressure up on the Oberlin defense.

McIntosh's shot was saved by Berger in the 70th minute, and then a header by Phil Koutsaftis ended with the sixth save of the match by Berger in the 71st minute.

Kist delivered a great free kick from outside the left side of the box in the 76th minute, but the Big red were unable to take advantage and get a look on goal as Cole Trigg's header missed high.

Oberlin got its first corner kick of the match in the 80th minute but did nothing with it.

A red card just before the six-minute mark in the match left the Big Red to play the rest of the way down one player, and Denison responded by packing it in defensively to be able to preserve the tie.

Prokos just got a hand up to knock the ball over the goal on a shot by Franceour in the 86th minute as the Yeomen pushed the Big Red to the brink in the final few minutes.

Oberlin finished with three corner kicks in the final four minutes of the match.

Shots were 12-6 in favor of Denison in the second half as both teams finished with two shots on goal in the period.

It was a chippy match with 14 total fouls and eight cards.

Prokos finished with four saves in goal while Kist finished with a match-high seven shots and both Kreuger and Koutsaftis had three.

The tie moves Denison's record to 7-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference while Oberlin (2-3-5, 0-0-2) settled for its fifth draw of the season and second straight in conference play.

Brandon Bianco said, "It was a tough night tonight. We had plenty of chances but didn't do enough to make them count. Ultimately, we just weren't us tonight and the performance in almost every aspect of the game wasn't up to the standard that's acceptable for this group."

Next up for the Big Red will be their first home conference match of the season as they host the Owls of Kenyon College starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 7. It will be the first of three straight home matches for Denison that ends with Senior Day on Saturday, October 14.