River Forest, Ill.—Dominican University Men's Soccer is ready for the start of the 2026 season, and the season gets started with a non-conference matchup against Blackburn College on Tuesday afternoon.

Series History vs. Blackburn:
All-Time Record / Streak: N/A
Tuesday, September 1st, will mark the first time Blackburn and Dominican will matchup with one another on the pitch in men's soccer.

DU in Review:
-Dominican finished the 2025 season with a 7-8-4 record, including going 7-3-2 in conference and 5-3-2 at home.
-The Stars notched the fifth seed in the NACC Tournament and fell on the road at MSOE in the NACC quarterfinal matchup.
-Head Coach Erick Baumann enters his 32^nd season at the helm of the Dominican Men's Soccer program. Baumann has amassed an impressive 470-127-54 (.763) record in that time. Coach Baumann is coming off his first ever losing season as Dominican University men's soccer head coach.

Familiar Faces:
-Senior Tristen Banquil is back in a Stars kit for his senior season and is looking to make a last impact on the DUMSOC program. Banquil is coming off a season where he played and started in 17 matches while scoring 5 goals on 16 shots on goal in his 1257 minutes.
-Junior Jonathan Almaguer returns to DU in his third season after having a great sophomore campaign. Almaguer played in 19 matches and started 14 of those matches, while registering 3 goals and 4 assists from the midfield. The junior is looking to improve for a third straight season.
-Senior Ciaran Geraghty returns as big part of the Stars backline. Geraghty started in 18 matches last season while marking 1620 minutes on the pitch. The senior from Scottsdale, AZ, also logged an assist with six shots over the course of the season.
-Sophomore Enzo Cinque came on strong for Dominican as a key player off the bench and is looking to solidify a bigger role on this squad. Cinque scored 4 goals on 24 shots in his 18 matches played in his freshman year.
-Sophomore Rogelio Cisneros stepped up when DU struggled on the offensive side of the ball, scoring 2 goals with 2 assists in his 13 matches played.
-Sophomore Cody Leyba returns between the posts this upcoming season. Leyba started in 5 matches last season but played in 9. The sophomore made 21 saves and held a 7-1 record in his freshman season.

Scouting Report:
-Blackburn College finished the 2025 season with a 5-11-1 record overall and a 1-6-1 record in the SLIAC.
-The Beavers had a 4-4 record on the road last season.
-Blackburn scored 28 goals and held a 1.65 goals per game percentage in 2025. They also gave up 31 goals in the season.
-The Beavers generated 15.5 shots per game, with 47.3% of those shots being on target in the 2025 season.
-Tuesday, September 1st, will be the first match of the season for Blackburn.