WHO: Denver (0-0-0, 0-0-0 Summit) vs. [t8/13] North Carolina (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ACC)
WHAT: DU's 2024 season opener
WHERE: University of Denver Soccer Stadium (Denver, Colorado)
WHEN: Thursday, August 15, at 7 p.m. MT
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver hosted two preseason exhibition matches, falling 1-0 to [8/18] Texas Tech on August 8 before finishing with a 3-0 win over Air Force on August 11. Graduate student
Vanessa Murray, senior
Jadyn Goodrich and freshman
Megan Murray logged second-half goals against Air Force with Goodrich leading the Pioneers with three points in the match.
Denver finished the 2023 season with a 9-2-7 overall record and 5-1-2 in Summit League play, capturing the league regular-season title for the sixth year in a row and its eighth overall. DU hosted Omaha in the Summit League semifinal in a match that finished in a 2-2 draw after a 90
th-minute equalizer from Goodrich that sent the game to overtime. UNO advanced after the subsequent penalty shootout, 3-2.
QUICK HITS:
- DU enters the 2024 season as the preseason favorite to win the Summit League after topping the preseason coaches' poll with 61 total points and five first-place votes.
- Fifth-year student Jordan Crockett and redshirt junior Samantha Dreiling were announced as Summit League Players to Watch.
- In 2024, Denver is seeking its 13th trip to the NCAA tournament and its eighth Summit League tournament title.
- Denver returns 26 student-athletes to its roster including nine of its 11 starters from the 2023 Summit League tournament. Among those back in 2024 are:
- Sophomore Liv Moritz, who finished with the team's second-most goals (7) and points (18) a season ago, and was named the 2023 Summit League Newcomer of the Year;
- Junior Lily O'Grady, who ranks fourth among DU returners in minutes played last season and scored her first career goal in 2023; and
- Sophomore Molly Wissman, who started all 18 matches in goal for Denver as a freshman and collected seven cleansheets.
- Six newcomers join the DU roster: five freshmen and redshirt sophomore transfer Emma Thielbahr, who began her collegiate career at San Diego.
SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS:
This will be just the second meeting between Denver and North Carolina. The teams' only previous meeting came in a 2-0 UNC win in the second round of the COVID-delayed 2020 NCAA tournament held in Matthews, North Carolina, on April 30, 2021.
North Carolina will be led by interim head coach Damon Nahas after long-time Tar Heel head coach Anson Dorrance announced his retirement on August 11 following a 47-year head coaching career that saw UNC win 21 NCAA Division I women's soccer national titles.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Denver continues its opening weekend when it hosts Idaho State on Sunday, August 18, at 1 p.m. MT at University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
TICKETS
Season and single-match tickets for the 2024 University of Denver women's soccer season are now on sale and can be purchased at
denverpioneers.com/tickets or by calling the Ritchie Center Box Office at 303-871-4625.
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