LANCASTER, Pa. (November 10, 2023) – The Big Red nearly completed their quest to win a match in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006, but in the end, the Denison University men's soccer team came up short against No. 7 Connecticut College by a final score of 3-1 in overtime during the first round of the national tournament on Friday evening on Tylus Field on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College.

Denison's leading goal scorer, Jake Krueger, had a chance to win the match in the final minute of regulation as he came up with a steal and went one-on-one against goalkeeper Peter Silvester from the middle of the box. Unfortunately, Krueger missed wide, and then Connecticut College quickly went down to try and win it itself as the final shot of regulation was saved by Denison's Tommy Prokos.

Then in the first three minutes of overtime, Denison had shots on goal by Corey Brunner and Kameron Kist that were both saved by Silvester, and the missed opportunities both at the end of regulation and in overtime came back to haunt the Big Red as CC got a foul call in the box and converted on the penalty kick in the 95th minute. Prokos dove to his right while the game-winning shot from Elliot Spatz went left.

Denison tried to find its second game-tying shot of the match as a free kick by Cameron McIntosh in the first minute and a half of the second overtime period was loose for a second in front of the goal and led to another shot on goal by Brunner before being corralled by Silvester.

Everything then came undone as Prokos stepped up and stoned another penalty kick for CC, this time by Matt Scoffone in the 106th minute, but the Big Red were unable to clear the rebound as Scoffone stayed with it and made it 3-1.

"Congratulations to Connecticut College on advancing in the NCAA Tournament," said Denison's Head Coach Brandon Bianco. "While I'm heartbroken for our group, I'm also tremendously proud. These guys played their hearts out and put us in position to advance against a good opponent. While this stings now, I know we'll continue to build on this for the future."

To start the match, the Camels, the 2021 National Champions, did not take long to find paydirt as they had a corner kick in the opening minute before a missed shot wide and a second corner kick ultimately led to a goal by Jack Marvel in the first three minutes of the match.

Fortunately for the Big Red, Kist, Denison's corner kick extraordinaire, setup for a corner in the 13th minute and did what he has does best, sending it to the far side of the goal where it found the head of Rohan Tripathy to tie the match at one goal apiece. It was the third match in a row this postseason with an assist for Kist.

Starting in the 19th minute, the CC offense put together a two-minute stretch that featured two corner kicks, two blocked shots and the first save of the match by Prokos. On the other end of the field, Silvester made his first save of the match on a shot by McIntosh in the 26th minute.

Then after the second save of the opening half by Prokos in the 39th minute, Denison closed out the final two minutes of the period as the aggressors as a shot by Tyler Weiss was blocked in the 44th minute, leading to another corner kick by Kist, and then in the 45th minute, a shot by Zarius Eusebe was wide before an attempt by Kist was saved by Silvester in the final 10 seconds.

Both teams finished with three shots on goal in the first half, and then both teams had a shot in the first minute and a half of the second half as Brunner's attempt in the first 30 seconds was blocked before Prokos made his third save a minute later.

Two shots by Miles Crosser were blocked in the 51st and 58th minutes, and then the teams continued to go back-and-forth as Prokos made another save in the 59th minute.

After a shot by McIntosh was blocked in the 77th minute and a shot by Henri Heyes from inside the box was high in the 78th minute, CC had a stretch of three corner kicks and two blocked shots in the span of just one minute starting in the 82nd minute.

Prokos finished with a season-high seven saves for the match while Silvester had five. Denison was led in shots by Brunner with three while he and Kist both had two shots on goal.

The Big Red finished their third full season under Head Coach Brandon Bianco 12-5-3 overall while winning the fourth North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament in program history and making the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons. Connecticut College, meanwhile, improved to 12-1-5 and will now advance to play against No. 8 nationally-ranked Franklin & Marshall College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.