Men’s and women’s soccer are usually solid if not outstanding teams for Denver. Yet, through the early portion of nonconference play, both teams are in a tailspin. The sides went 0-2 on the week, outscored 11-0. They were outshot 49-8, with 28 of those on goal to a mere 4 for Denver. Both losses came on the road, with Denver losing 5-0 to West Virginia, and the women falling 6-0 to Colorado in Boulder.
Both teams are struggling to score and have trouble defending – a double whammy. The women are scoring under a goal per game (.57) and giving up 1.57 goals per game. DU men are scoring a goal per game but allowing 2.57 goals per game. The men have 11 days to address the issues before facing a solid Creighton team September 22nd. The women face the Air Force at Pioneer Field on Thursday at 7:00 pm MT.
What is the problem? It is hard to identify a single issue. Like most sports teams in a slump, turnarounds usually start on the defensive end. And it only gets tougher when conference play begins in several weeks.
Women’s volleyball (6-3) went 1-2 this week, winning the final match of the Tarleton State Tournament. Denver was edged 3-2 in the first two matches by Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Tarleton State. Denver rebounded with a sweep of Sam Houston State. Hailey Goebel led DU with 13 kills, Eren Llayda added 18 assists, and Madison Winkler gathered 16 digs in the win against Sam Houston. Next up: Air Force on Wednesday at 7:00 pm MT at Hamilton Gym.
Only the best for the best.
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) September 11, 2026
A closer look at the C11AMP’s bling.
The Details: https://t.co/fDCcJkmoq4#GoldenAge #TheStandard #GoPios pic.twitter.com/sGF1e3wR4j
DU hockey players and staff unboxed their 2026 National Championship rings last week. A hockey donor hosted the event at Jacks. The ring features nods to DU’s 11 championships, Las Vegas as the 2026 Frozen Four host, and their impressive run over the second half of the 2025-26 season.
Rewriting history every year.
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) September 11, 2026
Learn more: https://t.co/fDCcJklQAw#GoldenAge #TheStandard #GoPios pic.twitter.com/dGscOJp6pT
The Unboxing of the Pioneers’ 2026 National Championship Rings.
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) September 12, 2026
Thank you to the private donor for dinner and for Jack’s for hosting us. #TheStandard #GoldenAge #GoPios pic.twitter.com/3mvgswLpLl
The M and W soccer problems are really puzzling, as we have not seen these kinds of drastically negative goal disparities in recent memory for either program. Granted, these are good teams DU is playing and usually on the road, which explains some of it, but the blowouts are revealing that the problems are core to the talent and desire level in lineups they are fielding, which of course, also leads, at some level to recruiting and development issues.
Jeff Hooker was coach for 31 years at DU before leaving in 2023, with 23 conference titles (league and tourney titles) and 11 NCAA appearances, including a Sweet 16 run in 2012, the high water mark for the program. Since then, the women’s program has been decent, with Julianne Sitch since taking over three years ago, going 30-16-15, but with only one Summit League co-title (in 2025) to show for it and no NCAA appearances. Clearly, the standard has fallen somewhat from the Hooker era, and with new entry into WCC, NCAA appearances seem destined to be rare in the future. It’s still too early to call the Sitch era a failure, but the program appears to be drifting far from the standards it once had.
For the men Jamie Franks is one of the best coaches in NCAA soccer. Franks entered the 2026 season with an elite 136-46-36 (.706) overall record across his first 11 seasons at Denver, including 17 league and conference tourney titles, NCAA appearances in 9 of his 11 seasons and two College Cup appearances where his DU teams lost in extra time to the eventual NCAA title winner. His record, his fearlessness in scheduling and his championship pedigree & consistency have given him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this team, but I am sure he’s not happy with what we’ve seen on the field this season. Let’s hope he figures it out, but this is a very weird year so far…
Men’s soccer is often giving up as many shots as a hockey team. Hard to figure out.
Appreciate the effort to help us understand – deal with bewilderment & frustration with soccer results!! Where’s our John Hicks ? Switching topic to men’s lax. Early July 3rd, Inside Lacrosse website announced that Fairfield University hired DU offensive coach Dave Mentzbower ( sp?) – since then no word from either DU or DM. Unusual way to end relationship. What am I missing? Thanks
Not sure why David Metzbower left. While he is a legendary coach, the team has underperformed in non-conference and conference play. Having two head coaches (Brownie) on the staff may have been complicated, a difference in philosophy, or else, they just needed a shakeup. Either way, I think we can all agree that the program has slipped over the past several years. They did recently add Jack Tortolani to the staff as an assistant – not assistant HC.
I’m not sure standing pat would have been the right option. Last season’s tough schedule aside, the issue with DU seems like talent and not a strategy/tactic issue. Denver needs more skilled players across the board to compete at the highest level.
Nice review. DU has been on easy street in the Summit and the whole year could be rough for the non-revenue sports. WCC is strong across the board. The better teams will certainly bring in fans for basketball! I hoping basketball returns to Magness for a couple games.
There is no return planned to Magness unless DU is selling out Hamilton – DU just invested in full chairback seating and a new scoreboard for hoops and volleyball to make the atmosphere better than the high school gym aura it had before….
No surprise on Metzbower leaving. I’m sure he was nudged out. DU’s offense continues to struggle, and both Brown and Metzn=bower are old-school, hold-or-move-the-ball-until-an-opportunity-emerges offensive coaches from the pre-shot clock era.
DU needs better talent if the Pios hope to be elite again – the current bunch just isn’t there, and the talent spigot has been running pretty dry since Tierney retired. DU has perhaps 3 or 4 top level players now, where they used to have all-American talent at many positions. Can they ever get it back? It’s a tall order. 80% of the lax talent pool lives within a day’s drive of the hotbed schools in the East and most of those schools are better than DU is academically (very relevant in this sport where few people can make a living in pro-lax), and since 80% of college students go to school within a days drive of home, DU would need to be quite exceptional to overcome that reality. DU was exceptional under Tierney – not so much under Brown so far. DU hockey is exceptional and can get talent from everywhere that they want it, but lax is quite a reach.
Tortolani is new to coaching and it seems like a very heavy lift to expect him to restructure the offense for the shot clock era. I wish DU well of course, but I think we have to recalibrate our expectations for this program. We’re a mid-pack Big East program now, comparable to Villanova or Providence, with the ability to perhaps make it to the dance in a good year – we are no longer a Memorial Day weekend program…
Sobering and true……our lax peers use to be ND, Duke, JH, G’town…….they have all improved while we remain with status guo. Denver had a great run with Tierney – east coast kids wanted to be part of his legacy. Since then, The drop off in performance and recruiting has been striking – now that DM has left ( was pushed) – will Brownie be calling offensive? Who’s responsible for recruiting? Surprised they haven’t been more proactive in communicating – building enthusiasm – for the -’26-’27 program. How many times can we play St. John’s in same season?
still don’t understand why Hooker was forced out, the AD is on the hook for the trajectory of WSoc