“The Vibes are so High.” Denver Summit Preseason Schedule and Media Day

Denver, Colo. – “The vibes are so high. Soaring,” said defender Carson Pickett. Saturday afternoon saw players and staff report for the first day of Denver Summit preseason. It had the energy of the first day of school. In less than two months, Denver Summit FC will play their first game in NWSL.

The team will head to Santa Barbara, California from January 18 to February 1. At the end of that camp, they will have a closed door friendly against an NWSL team to be announced. They will return to Denver and train at Infinity Park in Glendale from February 3 to 13. The team will be back in California for the Coachella Valley Invitational from February 14 to 22. They will play Utah Royals February 15 at 3 pm MT and San Diego Wave FC on February 21 at 1 pm MT.

Their first game will be March 14 at Bay FC.

“That will give us the first taste of the group together. I’m looking forward to watching for a couple weeks. It will help our group assess of where we need to go with the roster,” General Manager Curt Johnson said of the Santa Barbara trip.

Janine Sonis was one of the first signings and even set up the player’s WhatsApp chat. Lindsey Horan has been added to it. It’s currently called Denver Summit Players, but they’ll change the name to a meme once they have some preseason inside jokes.

“I’ve been so impatient for this moment,” said Head Coach Nick Cushing.

Cushing was a big get as manager. Won an MLS Cup on staff at New York City FC. Women’s Super League champion with Manchester City. He’s going to bring attractive attacking and possession football.

“We’re going to attack. I take the responsibility of putting a team that can entertain. This is something that I’m super inspired about. We need full commitment from everybody to get to know each other as quickly as possible,” said Cushing.

“I think we’ll be fast and physical but also really good with the ball. We’ll be one of the most fun and enjoyable teams in the league,” added Sonis.

Cushing acknowledges the learning curve given this is his first season in NWSL. Julie Twaddle (Head of Performance) and Angela Salem (Assistant Coach) have been added to his staff to help with that. Given his experience in MLS and the WSL, he should be able to adjust.

“That was a strategic decision for me. It’s going to be a challenge. Having the right people around me, but also having an open mind, the ability to embrace chaos is something I’m excited for,” said Cushing.

The club made a big deal of recruiting good character to help turn the unknown of an expansion team into a winning culture. Cushing is looking to make altitude an advantage, eventually. How they plan to do that? Patience and a lot of running in training.

“I will coach them as people before I coach them as players. A huge part of our recruitment strategy was finding out the character and the personality and ambition of our players. My ambition is high. I want to win,” said Cushing.

“What’s so special about this project is it’s new for everyone. One of Nick’s points was ‘this is a blank canvas.’ We get to make this what we want to make this. I don’t think we could be set up better to get going as an expansion team,” said Sonis.

“When you win championships in this league it’s mostly because of culture. Culture for me after 11 years (in NWSL) trumps everything on the field,” said veteran left back Carson Pickett. “Every single person was hand picked to be here.”

Check out the full audio from the day on our Patreon. It’s free starting Tuesday at 10 am MT. Read about the stadium project moving forward here.

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