DU Pioneers knock out No. 14 Indiana with early punch in NCAA Tournament: “We’re here to win a national championship”

Like the University of Denver men’s soccer team relative to the season, true freshman Keegan Kelly has gotten hot at the right time.

In the ninth minute of No. 3-seeded DU’s Round of 16 match against No. 14 Indiana, he was at the right place at the right time to tuck away the match’s only goal after some pinball occurred in the box.

Kelly’s delight matched that of the crowd of 1,875 at DU Soccer Stadium on Saturday afternoon — a facility record. The 1-0 win over the Hoosiers has the Pioneers chasing more history: a chance at their second College Cup in program history.

For coach Jamie Franks, who doesn’t often use true freshman players, a moment from Kelly in last week’s second-round match against Gardner-Webb sticks out.

Not the diving header he struck goalward to push the Pioneers’ lead to 2-0 early. Not the effort in the press that had been evident in both of DU’s tournament matches so far.

“The reason I think he has this moment right now is because, in that first game (of the tournament), he missed a sitter early in the game that could have put us up 1-0,” Franks said. “We always talk about our body language and how we present ourselves, and just after that moment, it was really clear that, ‘Oh, this guy, he’s going to impact the game,’ and he’s taken that in stride.

“Every week, he’s gotten better. For us, our message to him is to go out and trust himself, play on the edge and play off your instincts.”

The latter couldn’t have been more crucial in that ninth minute for Kelly and the Pioneers.

“To be honest, I overran it,” Kelly said. “So I was there, it fell, and it was instinct to hit it as hard as I can at the net. Happy it went in, quite a good feeling.”

Franks pointed to a time in the program’s history just a couple of years ago when DU’s “footballing” stacked up to the country’s best. The only thing missing was “steel,” according to Franks.

Against one of the country’s soccer blue bloods, hard work and physicality outclassed historical prowess, particularly in the second half.

DU did well to disrupt and deny the Hoosiers any long spells of possession in the first half, allowing only one shot. But the Hoosiers applied much more pressure in the second frame as they tried to force an extra period.

The most dangerous opportunity came in the 77th minute when a free kick found Indiana defender Jansen Miller for a point-blank opportunity, but DU keeper Isaac Nehme took the save about as calmly as anyone could have.

The denial was the most important and impressive of his two saves on the day. His unreal shot-stopping ability, which the Pioneers have relied on multiple times this season, was put almost on the back burner. What mattered most to Nehme was what he thought he got wrong in last week’s rout of Gardner-Webb.

“For me, the best way to stay in it is my communication. Last week, I thought I slipped up a little bit with my communication, but this week I felt really strong with it and just controlling what I can control,” Nehme said.

Most effectively, he authored a solid, organized back line that Indiana could not puncture. “I’m organizing our transition shape, making sure my guys are matched up and making it so I don’t have to make saves.”