DENVER – The [9/4] University of Denver men's soccer program will play its fourth match of a six-match season opener road swing on Sunday night when the Pioneers head where their season ended a year ago to take on [RV/16] SMU. Opening kickoff on ACC Network Xtra is set for 6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT.

SERIES HISTORY:
SMU holds a 4-2-1 advantage in the series history, including a two-game season split a year ago. Last season, the Pioneers raced out to a 3-0 lead in a 3-1 win before the Dallas posts were unkind to Denver down the stretch of the NCAA Second Round in Dallas in a 2-1 SMU win. In the last two regular season meetings in Dallas, the Pioneers won 1-0 in 2018 and drew 1-1 with the Ponies in 2021. FULL HISTORY

LAST TIME OUT:
Sam Bassett and Oje Ofunrein got their first goal of the season, but Washington found equalizers early in the second half and then again in the final five minutes to cancel out Ofunrein's late strike in a 2-2 draw on Thursday night in Seattle. FULL RECAP

TOP-10 SINCE 2015

• Denver is 111-36-29 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 (119), New Hampshire (115), Kentucky (114), Washington (113) and Seattle (111) (thru 8/29).
• Of the 16 teams that had at least 100 wins in that span entering the year, Denver has the fifth-fewest losses at 36.
• SMU is 13^th on the list at 105-41-18.

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 (2-0-1), nine from the Top-50 (2-0-1) 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 (2-0-1).

                                August 22 at [40] California - W, 2-1
                                August 25 at [8] Stanford - W, 1-0
                                August 29 at [35] Washington - T, 2-2
                                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

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.
• Bassett scored the first goal of his 2024 campaign and the 16th of his career to open a 2-2 draw at Washington on Aug. 29.

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, making 2024 the third season with multiple wins against the P4 (2016, 2022, 2024).
• 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 111-36-29 in his time as a head coach, 146-53-37 in his time at Denver overall and 245-80-54 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 return to the Mile High City for a few days before its shortest trip of the season to Creighton on Friday, September 6, at 7:45 p.m. CT/6:45 p.m. MT. The match will be broadcast on Flo Sports.  

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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