The University of Denver men’s soccer team will start its search for a third College Cup berth at home.
Two days after beating UMKC for a tournament title in their final Summit League match before heading to the West Coast Conference, the Pioneers (11-7-2) drew UC Irvine (11-3-6) for their NCAA Tournament opener. The match will be played at DU Soccer Stadium on Thursday at 3 p.m.
The Anteaters won the Big West and an automatic NCAA Tournament bid after beating top-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 2-1, on the road on Friday. Those two teams, plus Cal Poly, shared the Big West regular-season title, all with a 4-0-5 conference record. The Summit League was also decided in a match between two regular-season title sharers.
UC Irvine is on a heater heading into its eighth NCAA Tournament trip, winning six of its last seven games and drawing the other. The program had back-to-back runs to the Sweet 16 in 2013 and 2014.
The Pioneers said goodbye to a good chunk of the roster that took them to the Final Four last year, where they lost to eventual champions Vermont –unranked in that tournament but this year’s No. 1 seed. Because of that, they had to overcome a rocky start as they integrated newer faces with larger roles.
On the other side of it, Denver has also caught fire when it’s counted, with a 4-0-1 record in its last five matches. All four wins have been by multiple goals, and the team has scored 13 in that stretch, including a Summit League-record eight goals in the two-match tournament.
Sophomore striker Keegan Kelly had half of the tournament spoils with a hat trick in the semifinal and the opener against UMKC on Saturday. He earned the NCAA national player of the week honor after his performance in the semi.
UC Irvine lost its only match against a ranked opponent, 2-0, to San Diego in September. DU has much more experience playing against top opponents and beat No. 14 Georgetown a month ago. The Pioneers lost their other three ranked matchups, all by a single goal. All four of those games were on the road.
“I’m so proud of the group because I think a lot of teams in men’s soccer have played more home games and shied away from big moments and big games — just the opposite of what these guys have done,” DU coach Jamie Franks said after the UMKC match, before the bracket was drawn. “Because of that, I think we’re in a much better position. We know exactly who we are, we know what our strengths are and, ultimately, we know what our weaknesses are, too.”
If the Pioneers win Thursday, next is a rematch of one of their ranked losses: at the University of Portland. The eighth-seeded Pilots beat DU, 3-2, back in September when Portland was ranked No. 4 nationally. In that game, DU came roaring back from down 3-0 to make it a game with two goals in the final 10 minutes, but ran out of time to complete the comeback.
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