THE RUNDOWN
The DBU Men's Soccer team saw their season opener against Colorado Christian end in a scoreless tie on Thursday evening at Wanda Rhodes Soccer Complex in Bethany, Oklahoma. In a defensive stalemate, the Patriots and Cougars combined for just three shots on goal over 90 minutes of action. Senior goalkeeper Alexander Knepper protected the net with a pair of saves as DBU ushered in the season with a tie for the first time since 2018.
 
DBU's most opportune chance came in the 71st minute when Ethan Unger's shot was saved in the bottom left corner of the net by CCU goalkeeper Michel Pinoncely. Knepper answered the call for the Patriots with a spectacular save of his own just moments later. Knepper would record one more save in the 82nd minute to help preserve the tie.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- It marks the first scoreless tie in a season opener for DBU since the program was re-instated in 2012.
- The Patriots last match to end in a 0-0 affair came on March 27, 2021 at Oklahoma Christian.
- A pair of freshmen made their first career starts for the Patriots in Jack Golden and Gavyn Rosales.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7 - The Patriots saw seven players play all 90 minutes including Giovanni Enriquez, Payton Franklin, Alexander Knepper, David Trevizo, Ethan Unger, Peyton Voelker, and Mason Wallak.
10 - DBU totaled 10 shots with six coming in the second half.
5 - The Patriots took five corner kicks, while CCU totaled seven.

DBU HEAD COACH JESS JOBE 
"It was a hard-fought game on both sides. Credit to CCU, they matched us with intensity. They're a physical team and they made us work hard. We're happy to have not conceded a goal and posted a clean sheet, but we're disappointed that we didn't find the breakthrough. We thought we had lots of good opportunities in some really dangerous places and did a good job of challenging their back line to get into the 18-yard box. We put ourselves in position to potentially win that game, but we'll move forward to Saturday now and learn from this opportunity. I think there's lots of things that we can clean-up and improve upon and we'll look forward to going back at it again on Saturday." 
 
UP NEXT
DBU returns to action on Saturday when they face Southern Nazarene at Wanda Rhodes Soccer Complex. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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