Thursday, August 27
Denver, Colo.
7 p.m. MT
University of Denver
vs
Colorado College
Players Mentioned
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder/Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Photo by: Leeann Albers
Denver Women’s Soccer Set for Home Opener Against Colorado College
8/25/2026 3:57:00 PM | Women's Soccer
DU returns home after two-week road stretch for first match at University of Denver Soccer Stadium on Thursday night
WHO: Denver (0-3-0, 0-0-0 WCC) vs. Colorado College (2-2-0, 0-0-0 Mountain West)
WHAT: DU's home opener
WHERE: University of Denver Soccer Stadium (Denver, Colorado)
WHEN: Thursday, August 27, at 7 p.m. MT
MATCH PROMOTIONS:
Denver will celebrate Back to School Night with pencil pouch giveaways.
Thursday will also serve as DU's Youth Jersey Night where youth wearing a soccer jersey receive free admission with the purchase of an adult ticket.
DU is also partnering with local NWSL side Denver Summit FC for a free youth sports clinic prior to the match. The clinic will take place at Barton Lacrosse Stadium from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Participants must be ages 7-13 and must register online.
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver wrapped up its season-opening road stretch on August 23 at Northwestern, dropping an 0-1 result after NU scored in the 35th minute. Freshman Reese Morgan led the Pioneers with two shot attempts, a new single-match high for her in her young NCAA career. Sophomore Lucy Garnsey added two more saves, which brought her to 10 through her first three collegiate appearances.
QUICK HITS:
Denver will return to Greeley, Colorado, to resume its match at Northern Colorado on Sunday, August 30, at 12 p.m. MT. The match began on August 13 but was suspended in the 20th minute due to weather, and the teams agreed not to resume play that night due to ongoing weather and field conditions.
DU will then be back at University of Denver Soccer Stadium on Sunday, September 6, to host Montana. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. MT.
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2026 season are now on sale, starting at $69, and are available for purchase online or by visiting the Ritchie Center Box Office.
WHAT: DU's home opener
WHERE: University of Denver Soccer Stadium (Denver, Colorado)
WHEN: Thursday, August 27, at 7 p.m. MT
MATCH PROMOTIONS:
Denver will celebrate Back to School Night with pencil pouch giveaways.
Thursday will also serve as DU's Youth Jersey Night where youth wearing a soccer jersey receive free admission with the purchase of an adult ticket.
DU is also partnering with local NWSL side Denver Summit FC for a free youth sports clinic prior to the match. The clinic will take place at Barton Lacrosse Stadium from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Participants must be ages 7-13 and must register online.
LAST TIME OUT:
Denver wrapped up its season-opening road stretch on August 23 at Northwestern, dropping an 0-1 result after NU scored in the 35th minute. Freshman Reese Morgan led the Pioneers with two shot attempts, a new single-match high for her in her young NCAA career. Sophomore Lucy Garnsey added two more saves, which brought her to 10 through her first three collegiate appearances.
QUICK HITS:
- Denver is in its first season as a member of the West Coast Conference after completing the transition to its new home on July 1.
- DU spent the last 13 seasons in the Summit League, winning nine regular-season titles – including last year – and four tournament titles.
- Head coach Julianne Sitch is in her fourth year in charge of the Pioneers.
- Thus far, she owns a 29-16-13 record.
- Sitch has registered a winning record in all three seasons at Denver including last year's 9-5-4 record.
- DU is 19-7-2 as an NCAA Division I program in home openers and has gone 1-1-1 in its last three.
- In 2025 – when Denver also waited to host its home opener until the third week of the season – DU posted a 4-1 win over Southern Utah in its first completed match at home.
- Nineteen Pioneers have seen minutes in through DU's first two matches, eight of whom have made their Denver debuts.
- Freshmen R. Morgan, Caitlin Staats and Keirra Venson joined sophomore Garnsey in being part of the starting XI in what was their first official collegiate match at Colorado State.
- Freshman Jacqui Wilson and sophomores Riley Jeffries and Olivia Kroska entered as subs at CSU to also make their NCAA debuts.
- Kroska backed up her first collegiate appearance at Colorado State as a starter at DePaul and played the full 90 minutes
- Sophomore transfer Camila Palacios made her first appearance for DU as well in the opener at CSU. In subsequent matches, she posted her first career assist at DePaul and then made her first career start at Northwestern.
- Denver's backline has drawn its opponent into an average of 10 offside calls to begin the year, and all three opponents have been called offside at least nine times.
- Meanwhile, DU has only registered two offside calls combined through the three matches.
- Two Pioneers have garnered preseason attention from Top Drawer Soccer in senior Liv Moritz and R. Morgan.
- Moritz was recognized as a TDS West Coast Conference Breakout Candidate in what will be her return season to the pitch after missing 2025 while pursuing an Olympic spot with Team USA in alpine skiing.
- R. Morgan, the 2026 Gatorade Colorado Player of the Year, was named by TDS as one of 10 of the winners singled out as players to watch. The freshman also earned a spot on the TDS Spring High School Best XI second team for her final season before joining Denver.
- Former DU starting goalkeeper Alina Santos signed her first professional contract in August, doing so with English club Southampton FC Women.
- Sixth-year Samantha Dreiling and senior Nora Zelazny are Denver's captains for 2026.
- Dreiling was a co-captain in 2025. This will be Zelazny's first year as a co-captain.
- Denver returns 14 to its roster including five starters from the 2025 postseason: defenders Annie Philbin, Vincent and Zelazny; and midfielders S. Dreiling and Rowan LaPiano.
- Of DU's 14 returners, 13 saw playing time last season.
- The 14 returners combined for more than 9,700 minutes on the pitch in 2025.
- S. Dreiling leads the roster in matches played (54), matches started (43) and career minutes (3007).
- S. Dreiling was granted a sixth year of eligibility via medical hardship waiver after missing her first two NCAA seasons with injury.
- The NCAA's new "five-in-five" age-based eligibility model allows student-athletes who were on rosters for 2025-26 to use either the new eligibility model or the old model – including redshirts – if it benefits the student-athlete, as is the case for S. Dreiling.
- For the third season in a row, Denver has a set of sisters on the roster in S. Dreiling and Grace Dreiling.
- The duo is the fourth pair of sisters to play for Denver and the second to be on the roster at the same time.
- The Dreilings have played in the same together six times – including both matches so far in 2026 – and been on the pitch at the same time once (September 25, 2025, at North Dakota).
- Despite sharing a last name, freshmen Maeve Morgan and Reese Morgan are not related.
- Eleven of Denver's 27 student-athletes call Colorado home.
- This will be the 17th meeting between Denver and Colorado College with DU owning a 7-6-3 record through the first 16.
- Thursday will mark the fourth consecutive year that the teams have played one another in the regular season. DU leads, 1-0-2, over the last three.
- In 2025, the teams played to a scoreless draw at CC during opening weekend.
- The Tigers' last visit to DU was September 1, 2024, in a 2-0 win for Denver.
- Denver owns a 6-0-0 record at home against CC.
- Prior to the 2024 meeting, Denver had not hosted Colorado College in 11 years.
- Colorado College is 2-2-0 ahead of Thursday's match after winning its first two matches of the year against Creighton (3-1) and Drake (1-0) at home.
- CC's last match took the Tigers to Oklahoma in what would be a 6-0 win for OU on August 23.
- Ella Ashouri has led CC's offensive press to begin the year, owning seven points off three goals and an assist. She was named the Mountain West Offensive Player and Freshman of the Week after the team's first two matches.
- Nadia Cassamajor and Kendall Memoly join her with an assist apiece.
- The Tigers came in fifth in the Mountain West Preseason Coaches' Poll after finishing last season at No. 8 in the final conference standings.
- Memoly, Lily Smith and Regan Wallace picked up Mountain West Soccer Watch List nods in the preseason.
- Keri Sanchez is in her fifth season at Colorado College and her 19th as a collegiate coach.
- She is 25-37-17 at CC and 181-137-48 in her career – which includes 13 seasons at NCAA Division III Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College.
Denver will return to Greeley, Colorado, to resume its match at Northern Colorado on Sunday, August 30, at 12 p.m. MT. The match began on August 13 but was suspended in the 20th minute due to weather, and the teams agreed not to resume play that night due to ongoing weather and field conditions.
DU will then be back at University of Denver Soccer Stadium on Sunday, September 6, to host Montana. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. MT.
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2026 season are now on sale, starting at $69, and are available for purchase online or by visiting the Ritchie Center Box Office.
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