DENVER – The No. 3 seed University of Denver men's soccer program will travel for the first time in its NCAA Tournament run this week when the Pioneers take on Vermont in the 2024 College Cup Semifinal at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. Opening kickoff is set for 5 p.m. ET/3 p.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast on both ESPNU and ESPN+.  
 
Denver defeated UMass 3-0 in the quarters, No. 14 seed Indiana 1-0 the weekend before in the NCAA Round of 16 and Gardner-Webb 3-0 the weekend before that to reach the semifinal stage. Vermont's path has included wins over Iona, No. 7 Hofstra, San Diego and No. 2 Pittsburgh, with the final three matches all coming on the road.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Jason Belloli scored off a corner in the opening 10 minutes, Ronan Wynne added a second just before halftime and Oje Ofunrein got Denver a third just on the other side of the interval in a 3-0 win over UMass in the NCAA Quarterfinals, in-front of a standing room only crowd at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium last Saturday.
 
DENVER ATHLETIC PROGRAM SUCCESS

• The Denver athletic department has combined to win 35 national championships, with the last one coming in April when Denver Hockey lifted its NCAA-record 10th.
• Denver's 35 national championships  are currently the 14th most by an athletic department in NCAA Division I.
• Men's soccer is looking to become the fourth different program at Denver to win a national title, and would join Skiing (24), Hockey (10) and Men's Lacrosse (1) with two wins this weekend.
• This weekend's appearance for men's soccer is the program's second trip to the College Cup (2016), and the athletic department's 33rd DI national semifinal in its history, including its 17th since the entire athletic department rejoined Division I in 1998-99.
• This weekend marks the athletic department's third national semifinal in the calendar year, joining Denver Hockey and Denver Men's Lacrosse's trips to the final weekend last spring.
• Denver is one of seven athletic departments in the country to have made at least three national semifinal appearances in the calendar year of 2024. The other six athletic departments are Florida (4), Ohio State (4), Stanford (6), Texas A&M (3), UCLA (5) and USC (3).
• The Denver athletic department finished as the top non-football school in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings for the 11th-straight year in 2023-24, and for the 15th time in the last 16 years in 2023-24.
• Denver finished third last season among athletic programs that are outside of the FBS, trailing only Harvard and Princeton.
• The Pioneers also finished ahead of 25 Power-5 programs in last year's standings.
• Denver finished 46th overall in the Directors' Cup standings last season, its best overall finish since finishing 35th in the 2016-17 athletic season.

 
DENVER IN THE NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

• Denver is set to make its second appearance in the national semifinals on Friday, with the previous coming in 2016 against Wake Forest.
• Wake Forest opened the scoring in the 6th minute before an Andre Shinyashiki equalizer in the 17th. Wake won in extra time in the 102nd minute to go on to the national championship game.

NCAA Tournament History

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]	W, 1-0
2024		Quarterfinal	UMass [3]	W, 3-0
2024		Semifinal	vs. Vermont [3]	3 p.m. MT

 
Home: 7-2-0
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: 3-0-0
Quarterfinals: 2-1-0
Semifinals: 0-1-0
Overall: 10-11-1
 
TOP-10 SINCE 2015

• Denver is 124-39-32 since the start of the 2015 season.
• That record is good for sixth in the country in wins during that span, behind Wake Forest (152), Indiana (142), Clemson (141), Georgetown (133), Stanford (126).
• 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 35-9 in the middle 60 minutes of matches this season.
• This year, Denver has outscored opponents 12-3 between the 16th and 30th minutes and 11-2 in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
• Oje Ofunrein's goal in the NCAA Quarterfinal was the team's 43rd of the campaign, a new single-season program record.

 
RECORD BOOK WATCH

• Career Points: Sam Bassett is second on Denver's Division I list for career points. He currently sits at 72 (23G-26A), 45 points behind record holder Andre Shinyashiki (2015-18). Oje Ofunrein enters the match eighth on the list with 47, one point 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 with 22, one behind his teammate Bassett and 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 26, four clear of the previous record. Ian Smith has 20 career assists to tie with Michael Piserchio (2000-01) for third all-time.
• 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 71st, putting him in a tie for 11th in Denver's DI history with 2016 primary set piece taker Karsten Hanlin. (2013-16).
• Career Shutouts: Isaac Nehme broke the career shutouts record in the Pios NCAA Second Round win with his 27th, and now has 29.
• Career Goalkeeper Wins: Isaac Nehme enters the match with 41 wins, one shy of Nick Gardner's (2014-18) record of 42.
• Single Season Points: Sam Bassett is tied for third in Denver's DI history with 29 points this season, tied with Zach Bolden (2013).
• 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 13.

 
KELLY'S HOT START TO NCAA'S

• True freshman Keegan Kelly scored in each of Denver's first two NCAA Tournament wins this year, becoming the first Pio to score in back-to-back NCAA Tournament matches in the program's DI history.
• Kelly's diving header in the 24th minute was the second goal in a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb in the second round.
• Kelly's game-winner against [14] Indiana in the NCAA Round of 16 came in the ninth minute, his fourth goal of the season.
• Kelly scored back-to-back goals to open the season at Cal and at Stanford.
• Kelly joins Kortne Ford, Andre Shinyashiki and Kengo Ohira as the only Pios to score two NCAA Tournament goals in program history.
• Kelly has at least a point in five-straight matches, including an assist in the Summit League Final and the NCAA Quarterfinals and goals in the NCAA Second Round and NCAA Round of 16.

 
BASSETT'S MILESTONE MATCH

• In Denver's Round of 16 win over [14] Indiana on November 30, Sam Bassett became the 17th Pio in the program's modern DI history to make 75 career appearances.

 
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.
• This season Bassett has 29 points on eight goals and 13 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 tied for third in career goals (23), has the record in career assists (26) and is second in career points (72) in Denver's Division I history.

 
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 124-39-32 in his time as a head coach, 159-56-40 in his time at Denver overall and 258-83-57 in his time as a player and a coach in college soccer.
• Franks is 9-8-1 in the NCAA Tournament at DU (9-7-0 as HC). As a player and coach, Franks is 25-12-3 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.
• Franks won the national championship as a player with Wake Forest in 2007 in Cary, defeating Ohio State 2-1 in the final.
• Franks will make his sixth College Cup appearance combined as a player and coach this weekend.

 
DENVER AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS

• Denver is 26-44-15 in its Division I history against the USC Top-25, going 13-13-3 at home, 12-25-10 on the road and 1-6-3 neutral.
• Under Jamie Franks, Denver is 17-18-8 against ranked opponents, including 9-5-2 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.

 
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