DENVER – The [2/2] University of Denver men's soccer program both opens its home slate and begins a five-match homestand on Saturday night when the Pioneers welcome Yale to the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. The match will kickoff at 7 p.m. MT, and be broadcast live on the Summit League Network.    

SERIES HISTORY:

• Saturday marks the first meeting between the two programs.

LAST TIME OUT

• Denver completed its season opening six-match road trip with a 0-0 draw at No. 6 UCLA on Monday night. Isaac Nehme and the Denver defense kept its second cleansheet of the season in the scoreless draw. FULL RECAP

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER SOCCER STADIUM

• Denver is 98-21-18 at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium since the stadium opened in 2009.
• The Pioneers are 88-10-12 at home since Franks joined the staff as an assistant in 2012 and 63-8-9 since he took over as head coach in 2015.

TOP-10 SINCE 2015

• Denver is 112-36-31 since the start of the 2015 season.
• That record ranks tied for 9th in the country in wins, behind Wake Forest (142), Indiana (132), Clemson (128), Georgetown (124), Stanford (122), New Hampshire (117), Washington (115), Kentucky (114) and Seattle (112) (thru 9/10).
• 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 (2-0-3), nine from the Top-50 (2-0-3) and four in the Top-20 (1-0-2). 
• Eight of Denver's first nine matches are against teams that finished in the top-40 last season (2-0-3).

                                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 - T, 2-2

                                September 9 at [20] UCLA - T, 0-0

                                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.
• Through the first six matches of the season, Bassett has nine points on two goals and five assists.
• Bassett has been involved in five of Denver's last seven goals.
• Bassett enters the match tied for sixth in career goals (17) and is sixth in career points (52). 

DENVER IN TOP-2 IN UNITED SOCCER COACHES POLL

• Denver moved up a spot this week to No. 2 in the USC Poll, its highest ranking in the coaches' poll in program history.
• The Pios were in the top-3 for the first time on August, 2017 before being No. 3 on September 3 of this season.

GET ON THE BOARD FIRST

• Denver is 135-10-18 when scoring first since head coach Jamie Franks joined the staff as an assistant in 2012.
• Since Franks took over as the head coach in 2015, the Pioneers are 101-8-12 when scoring first.
• 2015: 14-0-1|2016: 18-0-0|2017: 8-1-0 | 2018: 13-0-1 | 2019: 6-5-1 | 2020: 5-0-0 | 2021: 9-0-3 | 2022: 14-1-2 | 2023: 11-1-3 | 2024: 3-0-1 

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 112-36-31 in his time as a head coach, 147-53-39 in his time at Denver overall and 246-80-56 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's homestand will continue on Thursday, September 19 when the Pioneers welcome Portland back to the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. MT on the Summit League Network.

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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