DENVER – The No. 3 seed University of Denver men's soccer program will host Gardner-Webb in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
 
GWU won 1-0 in the first round at Oregon State on Thursday night, while the Pioneers were one of 16 teams to receive a first-round bye.
 
SERIES HISTORY:
Sunday marks the first meeting between the two programs.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver took the lead in the opening quarter hour of the Summit League Final against Kansas City last Saturday, but after being reduced to 10-men, the Pioneers fell to KC 2-1. FULL RECAP
 
KC advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night with a 2-0 win at Saint Louis.
 
DENVER IN THE NCAA SECOND ROUND

• Denver is 1-5-0 all-time in the Round of 32 (second round), with the lone win coming in 2016 against UNLV by a count of 3-0.
• The Pioneers have qualified for the second round in each of the last four seasons.

 
NCAA Tournament History (7-11-1)

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1970	Round of 16	vs. San Jose State	W, 2-1
1970	Quarterfinal	at UCLA	L, 3-1
2008	First Round	at UC Davis	L, 4-0
2010	First Round	at UC Santa Barbara	L, 1-0 (a.e.t.)
2013	First Round	at Louisville	T, 0-0 (LOU 3-2 Pens)
2014	First Round	at Oregon State	L, 1-0
2015	Second Round	SMU [13]	L, 1-0 (a.e.t.)
2016	Second Round	UNLV [6]	W, 3-0
2016	Round of 16	[11] Washington [6]	W, 2-1
2016	Quarterfinals	at [3] Clemson [6]	W, 1-0
2016	Semifinals	vs. [2] Wake Forest [6]	L, 2-1 (a.e.t.)
2018	Second Round	Air Force [15]	L, 1-2
2019	First Round	at Missouri State	L, 0-1
2020	First Round	vs. UNC Greensboro	Withdrew (COVID)
2021	First Round	at Grand Canyon	W, 1-0
2021	Second Round	at [8] Clemson	L, 0-1
2022	First Round	San Diego	W, 1-0 (a.e.t.)
2022	Second Round	at [7] Duke	L, 1-3
2023	First Round	LIU	W, 2-1
2023	Second Round	at [6] SMU	L, 1-2
2024	Second Round	Gardner-Webb [3]	1 p.m. MT

 
Home: 4-2-0
Away: 2-8-1 (0-1 PKs)
Neutral: 1-1-0
First Round: 3-4-1 (0-1 PKs)
Second Round: 1-5-0
Round of 16: 2-0-0
Quarterfinals: 1-1-0
Semifinals: 0-1-0
 
THE MIDDLE 60

• Denver has outscored opponents 30-9 in the middle 60 minutes of matches this season.
• Since Jamie Franks arrived at DU as an assistant in 2012, Denver has a 282-141 edge during the 16th-75th minutes.
• This year, Denver has outscored opponents 9-3 between the 16th and 30th minutes and 10-2 in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

 
RECORD BOOK WATCH

• Career Points: Sam Bassett will finish his career second on Denver's Division I list for career points. He currently sits at 69 (23G-23A), 48 points behind record holder Andre Shinyashiki (2015-18). Oje Ofunrein enters the match ninth on the list with 45, one point behind Brian Todd (1998-99) for eighth and three points behind Nick Hartman (1999-02) for seventh.
• Career Goals: Sam Bassett is tied for third in career goals with 23, four behind Kyle Christensen (2003-08) for second. Oje Ofunrein is fifth, two behind his teammate Bassett to three behind Matt Harrell (1999-01).
• Career Assists: Sam Bassett broke Denver's DI career assists record on October 30 against Kansas City. He enters the match with 23.
• Career Game-Winners: Oje Ofunrein is tied for third in game-winning goals with 8, one behind Zach Bolden (2010-13) for second and 11 behind Andre Shinyashiki's (2015-18) record of 19. Sam Bassett has six, one out of the top-5 in Denver's DI history.
• Career Matches Started: Ben Smith's next start will be his 68th, tying him for 13th in Denver's DI history.
• Career Shutouts: Isaac Nehme's next shutout will be his 27th, breaking Denver's DI record that he currently shares with Nick Gardner (2014-18).
• Career Goalkeeper Wins: Isaac Nehme enters the match with 38 wins, four shy of Nick Gardner's (2014-18) record of 42.
• Single Season Points: Sam Bassett is tied for fourth in Denver's DI history with 26 points this season, three shy of Zach Bolden (2013).
• Single Season Assists: Sam Bassett's next assist will tie him with Michael Piserchio (2001) for the program record. 

 
MAC HERMANN WATCH LIST

• Senior attacking midfielder Sam Bassett was named to the 2024 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List on August 22.
• Bassett had career highs in goals (8), assists (7) and points (23) in his 2023 All-American season.
• Through the first 19 matches of the season, Bassett has 26 points on eight goals and 10 assists.
• Bassett was named the No. 1 player in the country in the Top Drawer Soccer.com midseason Top-100 player rankings.
• Bassett enters the match third in career goals (23), has the record in career assists (23) and is second in career points (69) in Denver's Division I history.

 
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER SOCCER STADIUM

• Denver is 104-22-19 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium (2009)
• The Pioneers are 94-13-13 at home since Franks joined the staff in 2012 and 69-9-10 since he took over as head coach in 2015.
• DU's home opener on September 14 was played in-front of 1,803 fans at DU Soccer Stadium, the most for a men's game in program history.
• Denver is 39-2-4 at home against Summit League opponents.

 
TOP DRAWER SOCCER MID-SEASON TOP-100 PLAYER RANKINGS

• Denver had six student-athletes recognized on the 2024 Top Drawer Soccer.com Top-100 midseason player rankings, the publication announced October 17.
• Sam Bassett was the No. 1 rated player in the country.
• Trevor Wright (27), Ben Smith (33), Ian Smith (57), Isaac Nehme (60) and Oje Ofunrein (75) were all also ranked in the top-100.
• Denver is tied with North Carolina for the most players from a single team in the top-100 (6).

 
THE FRANKS FOUNDATION

• Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks is in his 10th season as the bench boss and his 13th with the program overall in 2024.
• Franks and his staff were named the 2016 National Coaching Staff of the Year after taking Denver to its first College Cup appearance.
• Franks is 121-39-32 in his time as a head coach, 156-56-40 in his time at Denver overall and 255-83-57 in his time as a player and a coach in college soccer.
• Franks is 6-8-1 in the NCAA Tournament at DU (6-7-0 as HC). As a player and coach, Franks is 22-12-3 in the NCAAs.
• In addition to National Coaching Staff of the Year, Franks is a five-time Summit League Coach of the Year (2015-18, 2023).
• Franks was the youngest head coach in Division I soccer when he was hired in 2015, and the second youngest in 2016 when he took the program to the College Cup.
• Franks led the Pioneers to back-to-back unbeaten regular seasons in his first two years in charge, the first program to go unbeaten in back-to-back regular seasons since Clemson in 1977-78.
• In his 10 seasons, Denver has qualified for the NCAA Tournament nine times and received a bye into the second round four times. Denver has played in the second round now seven times.

 
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