DENVER – The [RV] University of Denver men's soccer program will begin the 2024 campaign on Thursday night when the Pioneers start a six-match road swing with a trip to new ACC program California. Opening kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MT/4:30 p.m. PT on ACC Network Xtra.
SERIES HISTORY:
Denver holds a 2-1-1 advantage in the series history, including a 1-1-1 mark in Berkeley. The last meeting between the two programs came in 2019, a match the Pioneers won 1-0 with a 30th minute Preston Judd tally. Goalkeeper Will Palmquist made five saves in his second shutout of the season.
2024 SCHEDULE:
- Returning 20 letterwinners and 10 starters from a year ago, head coach Jamie Franks put his program up against the best once again with his 2024 schedule that was announced in June.
- In the regular season, Denver will play 11 matches that finished in last season's RPI Top-100 (0-0-0), nine from the Top-50 (0-0-0) and four in the Top-20 (0-0-0).
- Eight of Denver's first nine matches are against teams that finished in the top-40 last season.
August 22 at [40] California
August 25 at [8] Stanford
August 29 at [35] Washington
September 1 at [11] SMU
September 9 at [20] UCLA
September 14 vs. [29] Yale
September 19 vs. [16] Portland
September 22 vs. [33] Seattle
October 2 vs. [69] Oral Roberts
October 7 at [38] Pittsburgh
November 2 at [69] Oral Roberts
UNITED SOCCER COACHES PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Denver had three players recognized by United Soccer Coaches as Players to Watch at their position ahead of the start of the 2024 campaign.
- Jason Belloli (Defender), Sam Bassett (Midfielder) and Oje Ofunrein (Forward) were all named to the lists.
- Denver and Notre Dame were the only two programs to have at least three field players selected to the lists.
- Both programs had a defender, midfielder and forward.
RETURNING CAST
- Denver returns 18 players that started at least one game a year ago, including nine that started at least 10 matches in 2023.
- Entering 2024, Denver's returning cast combined to make 736 career appearances and 449 starts.
- Five players entered the season with at least 50 matches played, and 11 made at least 40 career appearances before this season.
- Coming into the campaign, seven Pioneers had made at least 40 career starts for Jack and Sheila Weinberg Head Men's Soccer Coach Jamie Franks' side.
NEW FACES
- Jamie Franks signed nine freshmen to the 2024 roster who are joined by four redshirt-freshmen from last year to give the Pioneers 13 players with four years of eligibility remaining.
- The true-freshmen class is made up of three players from Colorado and one apiece from Florida, Ohio, New Zealand, Texas, Georgia and California.
FOUR FIFTH YEARS RETURN
- The Pioneers will have four student-athletes playing in their fifth year of college soccer.
- Ben Smith, who redshirted due to injury last season, enters his fifth year with 52 career appearances and 49 career starts for the Crimson and Gold.
- Ronan Wynne, who also missed last season due to injury, has made 46 starts in 47 appearances in three years of playing time with the program.
- Lukas Fisher is the only Pioneer to play full seasons in his first four years with the program.
- Aaron Kronenberg played three seasons at George Washington before spending his senior year with the Pios a year ago, and his fifth year of eligibility in Denver this season.
DENVER AND THE NEW POWER 4
- The Pioneers will square off against six programs from the new power-4, including four from the newly-mapped ACC.
- Five matches on Denver's season-opening six-match road swing are against the Power-4, with the other coming against the deep BIG EAST Conference (Creighton).
- Denver's most wins against the power conferences came in 2016 when the Pios won four against members of the premier conferences.
- Denver had two wins against the Power-5 in 2022, its only other multi-win season against the power conferences.
TOP-10 SINCE 2015
- Denver is 109-36-28 since the start of the 2015 season.
- That record ranks 10th in the country in wins, behind Wake Forest (140), Indiana (131), Clemson (126), Georgetown (122), Stanford (117), New Hampshire (115), Kentucky (113), Washington (112) and Seattle (110) (games entering the 2024 season).
- Of the 16 teams that had at least 100 wins in that span entering the year, Denver has the seventh-fewest losses at 35.
RECAPPING THE 2023 SEASON
- The Pioneers opened last season with a six-match homestand, going 4-0-2 in the stretch including a 3-1 win over No. 11 SMU.
- The only two regular season losses of the season came in the four-match road swing to follow, as the Pios lost to No. 11 Portland and Pittsburgh on the road.
- Denver finished 7-0-1 in Summit League play, dropping their only two points of the campaign in a 1-1 draw with Oral Roberts on September 30.
- After winning the league regular season title, the Pios fell to Kansas City in penalty kicks in the Summit League Semifinal in Tulsa.
- Denver responded to the setback with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over LIU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.
- After trailing by two goals at halftime, Sam Bassett converted a spot kick to halve the deficit against SMU in the second round, but three strikes off the woodwork in the final minutes ended Denver's season in the second round for the third-consecutive year.
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 is 109-36-28 in his time as a head coach, 144-53-36 in his time at Denver overall and 243-80-53 in his time as a player and a coach in college soccer.
- 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 first nine seasons, Denver has qualified for the NCAA Tournament eight times and received a bye into the second round three times. Denver has played in the second round six times.
WORK IN THE CLASSROOM
- Denver has recorded the top grade point average in the country among Division I men's soccer programs in five of the last nine years.
- Team Grade Point Average
2023-24: 3.62 (5th)
2022-23: 3.65 (3rd nationally - 0.08 behind South Carolina)
2021-22: 3.64 (2nd nationally - 0.05 behind Hofstra)
2020-21: 3.77 (1st)
2019-20: 3.74 (1st)
2018-19: 3.68 (2nd – 0.02 behind Lipscomb)
2017-18: 3.628 (1st)
2016-17: 3.619 (1st)
2015-16: 3.49 (1st)
ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The 2024 Denver Pioneers have players from 14 different states and three international countries (Germany, New Zealand, Sweden).
The 14 states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Texas.
14 states represented on a single roster is the most in the program's Division I history, breaking the record of 12 states on the 2022 roster.
DI HISTORY BY STATE
Denver has had players from 33 states in its Division I history.
Including the 13 on the 2024 roster, the Pioneers have had 105 Coloradans in the program in their Division I era.
The Pioneers have had double digit players from four states: Colorado (105), Texas (30), Illinois (10), Washington (10).
Freshman Ian Shuler is Denver's first player from Georgia, making it the 33rd state.
Since Franks took over in 2015, the Pios have recruited 30 Coloradans and 11 student-athletes from Texas
Outside of the United States, the Pios have had players from 12 other countries, including Canada (6), Norway (5) and Sweden (4).
Senior Ronan Wynne and freshman Keegan Kelly are Denver's only two Division I players from New Zealand.
UP NEXT:
Denver will stay in California for a Sunday evening match-up against fifth-ranked Stanford. Another new ACC foe, the match between the Pios and Cardinal will kick at 5 p.m. MT/4 p.m. PT, and will also air on ACC Network Xtra.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets for the 2024 season are on sale now and can be purchased here. Denver opens its home schedule on September 14 against Yale, a 7 p.m. MT kickoff.
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