Lopes face Denver in Sunday matinee

Sunday, August 27

Denver, Colo.

12 p.m. (Phoenix time)

Grand Canyon

Denver

GCU vs. No. 18 Wake Forest in the season opener at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., August 24, 2023.

Photo by: Jaylynn Nash LLC

8/26/2023 1:01:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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GCU plays 2nd of 4 straight on road to open its season

By: Nick Macdonald

Sunday, Aug. 27 \| 12 p.m. \| Univesity of Denver Soccer Stadium \| Denver, Colorado

	(RV) Denver PIONEERS (0-0-1)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (0-1)

WATCH: Link \| STATS: Link

The Grand Canyon men's soccer team plays its second of four straight games on the road with an afternoon contest against (RV) Denver at University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

AT A GLANCE

The second of a four-game road trip begins Sunday with a matinee contest at (RV) Denver at the University of Denver Stadium.
The Lopes battled tough before falling 3-1 in their season opener at No. 18 Wake Forest on Thursday night. The match was delayed by an hour and a half due to inclement weather in the Winston-Salem area. The journey to Spry Stadium was the third-longest regular-season road trip by mileage from GCU Stadium since 2013.
The Lopes bring in 16 new players, including 11 freshmen, to this season's roster. Of the 31 players on the roster, 24 are underclassmen.
Highlighted returners include junior Innocent Jibril Rodet, who earned All-WAC second-team honors last season and was named Preseason All-WAC this fall. The Lopes return a veteran back line, with senior Samuel Lossou and junior Clayton Duarte highlighting the defensive efforts. Lossou led the squad in minutes played (1,489) last season while Duarte tied for fith in points (five) with two goals to his name.
Sunday's matchup versus the Pioneers will mark the third straight season the teams have met. Both games have been down-to-the-wire contests that Denver won by one goal, including a 2021 NCAA tournament match. Sunday's game is the first at Denver, with the prior two happening at GCU Stadium.

EXPERIENCED DEFENSIVE LINE RETURNS

GCU returns experience to the back line and in goal for this season, with two of the four defensive positions in the team's top six for minutes played last year.
Co-captain and senior Samuel Lossou led the Lopes with 1,489 minutes logged while adding one goal and one assist to his stat sheet. His shot-on-goal percentage was .600, with six of his 10 shots on frame.
Co-captain junior goalkeeper Leon Schmidt's first start as a Lope in 2022 included five saves and a win at No. 4 UCLA, the highest-ranked victory in program history. Schmidt went 6-6-2 with 50 saves, including seven games with four or more stops.
Junior defender Clayton Duarte appeared and started in 15 games last season, tallying two goals and an assist with both goals proving to be game winners. Duarte made his name known early in Phoenix with a goal vs. Virginia Tech in a 1-0 win at GCU Stadium. Duarte was sixth on the team in minutes played with 1,182.
Sophomores Erick Monge and Uriel Diaz Loza round out a back four and were contributors in big games last season. Diaz Loza played all 90 minutes in the Lopes' victory over the Bruins and was a presence in wins over Virginia Tech and Oakland, which were 2021 NCAA tournament teams. Monge came into the fold during conference play and aided GCU to its third straight WAC Tournament, helping GCU go 4-2-2 over its final eight games while earning All-WAC Freshman Team honors in the postseason.

YOUNG CORE EMBRACES CHALLENGE

GCU heads into the 2023 campaign with 16 new players and 24 underclassmen on its 31-man roster. Of the 24 underclassmen, 11 are freshmen.
"I think we are further ahead now than we were last year," Kraus said. "We're continuing to build the culture that we want to have as an identity of players on the field and as human beings and student-athletes off the field. I think of myself as fairly demanding, and now I think they (the returnees) are acquainted with that, and they can help the new guys get bought in and on board."
Of the 11 freshmen, four come from out of the country in Matthew Sacristan (Madrid, Spain), Solo Bidanessy (Bamako, France), Cezar Onut (Ploiesti, Romania) and Aner Gonzalez (Reynosa, Tamualipas, Mexico).
Also set to make their GCU debuts are junior Sergio Martinez and senior Gabin Barreau. Martinez helped Salt Lake Community College win the NJCAA Division 1 national championship in 2020 while being named to the all-conference first team and all-national tournament team as a sophomore. Barreau attended University Jean Francois Champollion in Rodez, France, from 2020-23 and makes his first appearance at the Division I level.

SCOUTING DENVER

Denver is a year removed from winning the Summit League championship after going 14-3-5 overall and 6-0-2 in conference play. It also made the NCAA tournament, advancing to the second round.
The Pioneers were third in the nation in shutout percentage (.591) and 16th in shot accuracy (.479). They outscored the opposition 41-15, ranking 15th in the country in goal differential.
Sunday marks the third straight season that the Pioneers and Lopes will face each other, the first in Denver's home state of Colorado.
Both meetings prior have come in Phoenix, with 2021's being the Lopes' second-ever NCAA tournament game. GCU narrowly fell in that game and a 2022 regular-season contest at GCU Stadium.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Lopes stay on the road and face No. 8 Creighton on Friday and Omaha on Sept. 4 in Omaha, Nebraska.
GCU's match against the Blue Jays will be the third straight against a team that is ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll.
Lopes head coach Mike Kraus returns to his alma mater of Creighton for the first time as a head coach. Kraus, who graduated from Creighton in 2007, helped lead the Blue Jays to the NCAA tournament in each of his four seasons, including two College Cup appearances while earning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors in 2006.