DENVER – The [9/4] University of Denver men's soccer program will head to Washington for match three of its season-opening six-match road swing on Thursday when the Pioneers meet UW at Huskey Soccer Stadium. Opening kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. PT, and will be broadcast live on BTN+.
SERIES HISTORY:
Denver and Washington have split the first eight matches with 3-3-2 records. The two programs last played a home and home series across the 2018 (DU 3-2) and 2019 (UW 2-1 campaigns, two years after they played each other in the 2016 NCAA Round of 16 (DU 2-1). Prior to the NCAA Tournament meeting, the Pioneers and Huskies hadn't met since 2009. FULL SERIES HISTORY
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver got a second goal in as many matches from freshman Keegan Kelly and held Stanford without a shot on target in the final 71 minutes to earn the Pioneers a 1-0 win over the then [5/4] Cardinal in Palo Alto. FULL RECAP
TOP-10 SINCE 2015
- Denver is 111-36-28 since the start of the 2015 season.
- That record ranks tied for 9th in the country in wins, behind Wake Forest (141), Indiana (131), Clemson (127), Georgetown (123), Stanford (118), New Hampshire (115), Kentucky (114), Washington (113) and Seattle (111) (thru 8/26).
- Of the 16 teams that had at least 100 wins in that span entering the year, Denver has the fifth-fewest losses at 36.
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 opponents that finished in last season's RPI Top-100 (2-0-0), nine from the Top-50 (2-0-0) and four in the Top-20 (1-0-0).
- Eight of Denver's first nine matches are against teams that finished in the top-40 last season (2-0-0).
August 22 at [40] California - W, 2-1
August 25 at [8] Stanford - W, 1-0
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
LIMITING CHANCES
- Denver has held opponents to two shots or less 13 times in its DI era.
- The Pioneers have held opponents without a shot on goal 23 times in their Division I history, including three times during the 2023 season.
- In the Summit Semi, KC broke a DU shutout streak that lasted 565:23.
- In the 2024 season opener, Denver didn't allow Cal to put a shot on target until right before the 83rd minute Bears goal.
- In Denver's win over No. 5 Stanford on August 25, Denver didn't allow a shot on target in the final 71 minutes of the match.
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.
- Bassett had two assists in Denver's 2-1 win at Cal in the 2024 season opener on his way to Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week honors after the opening weekend.
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 prior to this season.
- The Pioneers 2-1 win over Cal and 1-0 win over No. 5 Stanford in the season opening weekend was Denver's ninth and 10th wins against the Power Conferences under 10th-year head coach Jamie Franks.
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 in program history.
- Franks is 111-36-28 in his time as a head coach, 146-53-36 in his time at Denver overall and 245-80-53 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 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.
UP NEXT:
Denver will close out the middle weekend of its three-week road swing on Sunday when the Pioneers travel to [RV/16] SMU. Opening kickoff on ACC Network Xtra is set for 6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT.
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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