Denver Men’s Soccer opens its 2026 season on Thursday, August 20 against Cal Poly at 7 pm at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.  DU also begins its first season in the West Coast Conference (WCC) and has been picked to finish third in the coaches’ preseason poll.  Portland and San Diego were picked #1 and #2.

Denver is ranked 20th in the Top Drawer Soccer Poll to start the 2026 campaign.  The Pioneers were also picked in the top-25 coaches’ association poll.  Fellow WCC members Portland and San Diego will be very tough this year, as Portland is ranked #4 and San Diego #12 in the Top Drawer poll.

DU has lots of experience on its roster with 10 players with at least three years of experience in the program.  Coach Jamie Franks is in his 12th season with an impressive regular season and postseason record.  The Pioneers are 10-8-3 in the NCAA tournament under Franks.  Denver will not settle for a third-place finish, and fans should expect that they will contend for the WCC championship.

A pair of fifth-year Pios, Bryce Willoughby and Kyle McGowan, are part of the 11-member All-WCC preseason team.  Look for both players to be key players in scoring goals for DU.

Cal Poly, now an associate member of the Pac-12, is part of a non-conference schedule that once again is very competitive.  Denver has home matches with Tulsa (September 4) and Creighton (September 22).  Road matches include #9 Stanford (August 23), UCLA (August 28),  Cal Baptist (August 31), #22 Indiana (September 7) and #23 West Virginia (September 11).

DU had a heartbreaking loss to new conference foe Portland to end the 2025 season.  The second-round NCAA game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation and was decided by penalties 5-4 in favor of the Pilots.