With an 11-week regular season, it’s rare to get a week off in college soccer, but that’s what has turned around Denver’s season.

Since skipping the weekend of Sept. 22-23, the Pioneers have been on a roll, winning four MPSF games, all by shutouts, and moving into the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. The streak began with a 1-0 win over last year’s NCAA Division I runner-up, New Mexico, and continued with big victories over UNLV (5-0) and Air Force (3-0). On Thursday night, the No. 20 Pioneers opened a two-game road trip to California with a 1-0 win at San Jose State.

Before the break, the Pioneers were inconsistent. They were 4-3-1 but failed to beat the teams they needed to. The rest allowed injured players to heal.

“We worked hard,” Denver coach Chad Ashton said, “but I think the break was beneficial to the overall health of the team.”

Ashton grew up in Colorado, starred at North Carolina, where he still holds the career assist record, then bounced around the APSL, MISL and NPSL before going into coaching. He first coached the Pioneer men in 1995, took 1996 off to play for MLS’s Dallas Burn in its inaugural season, then returned to Denver as a men’s and women’s assistant in 1997 before retaking the reins of the men’s program in 1998.

Scoring was a problem in 2005 when the Pioneers only tallied 19 goals in 18 games and finished 7-10-1. No player has more than three goals this season, but the Pioneers are finding ways to win. Against San Jose State, Vanderbilt transfer Josh Fallin scored the lone goal, fighting off defenders to head in a long throw-in from freshman Kellan Christensen for his first goal of the season.

Ashton is also blessed with two good goalkeepers. Matt Bredehoft, the incumbent, has started eight games. Freshman Joe Willis, who has a 0.45 goals-against average in four starts, debuted for the U.S. U-20s on Wednesday night in their 5-1 win over Haiti’s U-23s in Sunrise, Fla.

    THURSDAY MEN’S ACTION

    South Florida drew a school record 2,106 fans for its 3-1 victory over Stetson. Sophomore Jordan Seabrook scored two goals to lead USF. The Bulls added an insurance goal with Trinidad & Tobago international Kevon Neaves‘ first goal of the season on a shot from 30 yards. Rodrigo Hidalgo and Anthony Wallace started for USF 24 hours after they played with the U.S. U-20s against Haiti.