GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 6, 2023) – The Denison University men's soccer team is headed to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament for the 11th time in school history and for the second time in the last three seasons. Denison carries a 12-4-3 overall record into Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the Big Red will face No. 7 Connecticut College in the opening round of the tournament at 6:30 pm. on Friday, November 10.

The Big Red earned the North Coast Athletic Conference automatic qualifier to the tournament after winning by a score of 3-1 over No. 17 nationally-ranked Kenyon College to bring home its fourth NCAC Tournament title in program history.

Sophomore midfielder Kameron Kist was named the NCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player after dishing out an assist in both of Denison's wins in the conference tournament. Kist leads the Big Red with seven assists on the season and is tied for first in points (17) and is second in goals (5).

Junior forward Jake Krueger leads the squad with six goals scored and is second with five assists while matching Kist for the team lead in points.

Junior midfielder Cameron McIntosh (4 goals; 2 assists) is third on the team in points (10) while fellow junior midfielder Corey Brunner (3 goals; 2 assists) and freshman forward Jack Rice (3 goals) make it five Big Red players with at least three goals scored this season.

In goal, junior Tommy Prokos has started in 15 of the 16 matches he has played in and is 8-4-2 while allowing just 12 total goals and recording five shutouts, 45 saves, a 0.82 goals-against average and a 0.789 save percentage.

In all, the Big Red defense, anchored by senior Chris Giglio, junior Cole Trigg and sophomore Henri Heyes, has posted nine shutouts on the year.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Denison and Connecticut College, which enters the NCAA Tournament at 11-1-5 overall after dropping their first contest of the season on Saturday, falling to Amherst College 2-1 in the NESCAC semifinals. On the year, the Camels have scored 39 goals, at a clip of 2.29 per game, with 18 different goal scorers, while conceding just 14 goals in 17 matches. The 2021 National Champions have three players in double-digit scoring, led by Jake Creus with 17 points on seven goals and three assists, Matt Scoffone with 15 points on seven goals and one assist, while Elliot Spatz (has added 11 points on four goals and three assists. Peter Silvester has started every game in goal and owns a 0.85 goals against average, a .725 save percentage and seven clean sheets.

No. 8 Franklin & Marshall College (13-3-2) is the host site for the four-team regional while the final participant in the region is Geneva College (12-4-3). The winner of the Denison-Connecticut College match would face the winner of the Franklin & Marshall-Geneva match at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 11.

Franklin & Marshall earned one of the 23 at-large bids in the 64-team tournament after falling 2-1 to Muhlenberg in the Centennial Conference Semifinals. The Diplomats entered their conference tournament as the No. 2 seed in playoffs, finishing 6-1-2 in the league behind Washington College. John Hopkins, the No. 4 seed in the Centennial playoffs, won the conference championship, giving the Centennial league three teams in the NCAA tournament, along with Franklin & Marshall and Washington. The Diplomats boast the top scoring offense in the Centennial Conference, scoring 43 goals on the season. Senior Oscar Horwitz is responsible for 19 of those goals, seven more than anyone else in the league and tied for eighth in NCAA Division III.

Geneva earned the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) automatic bid by defeating Grove City on Saturday night in a thrilling 1-0 PAC Championship victory. Senior Carnel Kerr scored the lone goal in the 21st minute, and the Golden Tornado defense held the Wolverines scoreless the rest of the way to earn a dramatic victory in front of a crowd of over 2,000 fans.
 
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