GCU men fall in 1st round
Grand Canyon still is searching for that elusive first win in the NCAA Tournament in a sport.
A week after the women traveled to Los Angeles only to get humbled by USC in a 6-0 first-round loss, the men lost at home Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Denver 1-0 before a large crowd of Havoc at GCU’s stadium.
Denver (10-3-5) travels to Clemson to take on the Tigers on Sunday in the next round.
In two heart-breaking home losses, what was a glorious season ended with a thud for the Antelopes, who went 15-4-1 in coach Leonard Griffin’s first season in charge.
This is the third time in four years that GCU lost in the first round.
After Thursday’s loss, senior defender Esai Easley stood in the middle of the field and let everything sink in. He was part of all three of those GCU first-round national losses.
“Just appreciating the beauty of what I had,” Easley said. “It’s easy to take for granted to play here. I try to let the younger guys know you have to appreciate every time you step on the field here, because this is the best stadium in college soccer.”
That stadium ended with the pain of defeat in GCU’s last two matches.
The Lopes could have earned a firstround bye had they closed out Seattle U and not let it come back from a 2-0 deficit late to tie it and send the WAC Tournament championship game Sunday into overtime. Then, after two scoreless OTs, the Lopes lost on penalty kicks.
Still, they felt they could win at home against Denver.
But the Pioneers were wanting to erase the painful memory of last year’s NCAA Tournament that ended because of COVID-19 that didn’t allow them to play in the first round.
Denver took a 1-0 lead at the 23rd minute mark on Kengo Ohira’s goal on a pass from Aidan O’Toole.
And the Pioneers made sure that held up by packing the back end with defenders running a 5-4-1 defense at the Lopes, who managed four shots on goal.
“They’re a group that thrives in transition,” Denver coach Jamie Franks said. “So we wanted to make sure that the game didn’t go back and forth. One of the main objectives was controlling certain spaces in the game, and I thought the guys did that.”
GCU midfielder Justin Rasmussen had one shot on goal. The Lopes lost an opportunity in the first half when a pass near the net was missed.
“It’s definitely frustrating to lose and not be able to get a goal in there,” said Rasmussen, who had five game-winning goals on the season. “It’s very tough to break down five in the back when you got three center-backs and extra guys coming back.
“We had our chances but the ball didn’t go our way.”
Griffin knew that first goal would be huge.
“We knew their style of play and how they would come out, very organized, disciplined team, it would be tough,” he said. “Once they got that first goal, it was hard to break them down.
“The attacking has to be pinpoint when you get into the final third. It just didn’t go our way there tonight.”