DENVER – The No. 3 seed University of Denver men's soccer program will host No. 14 Indiana in the NCAA Round of 16 on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
Denver defeated Gardner-Webb 3-0 and Indiana beat Akron 2-1 to advance to this round. The winner of Saturday's match will take on the winner of No. 11 Virginia and UMass-Amherst next weekend.
 
SERIES HISTORY:
Indiana has won both of the previous meetings between the two programs by a scoreline of 2-1. The two meetings, in 2011 and 2019 both were part of Notre Dame's annual weekend tournament in South Bend.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver scored three goals in the opening 25 minutes off tallies from Ben Smith, Keegan Kelly and Trevor Wright and kept a cleansheet on the other end in a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
 
DENVER IN THE NCAA ROUND OF 16

• Denver is set to make its third trip to the Round of 16, including its second since the athletic department rejoined Division I in 1998.
• Denver defeated San Jose State 2-1 in 1970 and beat Washington 2-1 in 2016.
• The Pioneers have won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons.

 
NCAA Tournament History (8-11-1)

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]	W, 3-0
2024	Round of 16	[14] Indiana [3]	2 p.m. MT

 
Home: 5-2-0
Away: 2-8-1 (0-1 PKs)
Neutral: 1-1-0
First Round: 3-4-1 (0-1 PKs)
Second Round: 2-5-0
Round of 16: 2-0-0
Quarterfinals: 1-1-0
Semifinals: 0-1-0
 
TOP-10 SINCE 2015

• Denver is 122-39-32 since the start of the 2015 season.
• That record is good for a tie for sixth in the country in wins during that span, behind Wake Forest (151), Indiana (142), Clemson (141), Georgetown (133), Stanford (126), and in a tie with New Hampshire (122) and Seattle (122).
• Of the 16 teams that had at least 100 wins in that span entering the year, Denver has the fifth-fewest losses at 39.

 
THE MIDDLE 60

• Denver has outscored opponents 33-9 in the middle 60 minutes of matches this season.
• Since Jamie Franks arrived at DU as an assistant in 2012, Denver has a 285-141 edge during the 16th-75th minutes.
• This year, Denver has outscored opponents 12-3 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 71 (23G-25A), 46 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 25.
• 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 69th, putting him in 13th in Denver's DI history.
• Career Shutouts: Isaac Nehme's broke the career shutouts record in the Pios NCAA Second Round win with his 27th.
• Career Goalkeeper Wins: Isaac Nehme enters the match with 39 wins, three shy of Nick Gardner's (2014-18) record of 42.
• Single Season Points: Sam Bassett is fourth in Denver's DI history with 28 points this season, one shy of Zach Bolden (2013) for third.
• Single Season Assists: Sam Bassett broke the single-season assists record in Denver's NCAA Second Round win over Gardner-Webb, and currently sits on 12.

 
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 20 matches of the season, Bassett has 28 points on eight goals and 12 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 105-22-19 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium (2009)
• The Pioneers are 95-13-13 at home since Franks joined the staff in 2012 and 70-9-10 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).

 
DENVER AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS

• Denver is 24-44-15 in its Division I history against the USC Top-25, going 11-13-3 at home, 12-25-10 on the road and 1-6-3 neutral.
• Under Jamie Franks, Denver is 15-18-8 against ranked opponents, including 7-5-2 at home, 8-11-5 on the road and 0-2-1 at a neutral site.
• The Pioneers are 10-8-4 against teams receiving votes, including 5-5-2 at home, 4-3-2 on the road and 1-0-0 at a neutral site.
• Denver is 4-12-0 against teams ranked in the top-5 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, including 2-7 in true road games.
• The Pioneers only road win against a top-5 team prior to this season came on December 2, 2016 when the fourth-ranked Pioneers beat No. 3 Clemson 1-0 in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
• Denver's last win against a top-5 team prior to this season came in a 3-2 win against No. 3 Washington on August 30, 2018 at DU.

 
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 122-39-32 in his time as a head coach, 157-56-40 in his time at Denver overall and 256-83-57 in his time as a player and a coach in college soccer.
• Franks is 7-8-1 in the NCAA Tournament at DU (7-7-0 as HC). As a player and coach, Franks is 23-12-3 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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