Men's Soccer: 2011 Schedule Released
May 10, 2011 01:15 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Director of Athletics Oliver Luck has released the 2011 men’s soccer schedule, which is highlighted by eight home matches at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, where the Mountaineers hold the nation’s longest home win streak at 10 games.
“Marlon (LeBlanc) has continually put together one of the top schedules in the country and this upcoming season is no different,” Luck said. “We are looking forward to watching the team excel this fall and make another run at the BIG EAST and national tournaments.”
The schedule consists of games against nine teams that played in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and 10 opponents who finished in the nation’s Top 50 RPI. The slate also features games against a total of seven different conferences.
“Our schedule is clearly one that is going to challenge our team and will once again be one of the better schedules in the country,” LeBlanc said. “Our goal every year with scheduling is to put our team in a position that it’s going to be prepared for postseason play in the BIG EAST and NCAA Tournaments.”
WVU opens the season with a trip to Maryland to face two Atlantic Coast Conference foes. The team will play Virginia at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Md., on Aug. 26, followed by a short trip to College Park, Md., to take on Maryland on Aug. 28.
“UVA and Maryland aren’t just two of the top teams in the nation this year, they are two of the top teams in the nation every year. There are multiple national championships between those two programs and getting to play UVA at the SoccerPlex is a tremendous opportunity. It’s a great area for us to go in from a recruiting aspect,” LeBlanc said. “To then turn around and go to Maryland on Sunday for their home opener, the last time we were there in 2007 we got the win in front of 5,000 people. Those will be two very difficult road wins for us.”
The following weekend, WVU will once again play host to the Save Face/WVU NIKE Classic presented by Jersey Subs that features matches against Binghamton on Sept. 2 and a game against Old Dominion on Sept. 4. The home-opening weekend will also feature the WVU Men’s Soccer 50-Year Anniversary and Reunion.
“Our home opener will be our 50th anniversary of men’s soccer with Paul Marco, a former player and head coach at WVU, bringing Binghamton to town. That will be special weekend for our players and alumni,” LeBlanc commented. “We certainly have our work cut out for us with Binghamton and Old Dominion.
“Our guys take a lot of pride in playing at home and last year we really put our stamp on being a dominant home team. We have another difficult schedule at home with quite a number of NCAA Tournament teams coming to Morgantown.”
On Sept. 9, WVU will travel west to take on UC-Santa Barbara, followed by a trip to Cal Poly on Sept. 11. The Mountaineers last faced UC-Santa Barbara in 2009. This will be the first trip to California in men’s soccer history.
“When we brought UC-Santa Barbara here in 2009, we made the agreement we were going to go back to their place,” LeBlanc said. “Those two environments are two of the biggest and best in college soccer. UC-Santa Barbara can put 10,000 people in the stands and Cal Poly is doing the same in the 6,000 range. We are looking at playing in three of the biggest environments in college soccer this season.”
The Mountaineers return home to play non-conference matches against Richmond on Sept. 16 and Duquesne on Sept. 18, before opening the BIG EAST season with a home match against USF on Sept. 24.
“Right off the bat we open up with USF, which has turned into a major rivalry game with us and that’s a team that has gone deep into the NCAA Tournament,” LeBlanc said. “Cincinnati was on the bubble last year and then you throw in Georgetown, Connecticut, Providence and Notre Dame, obviously those are all NCAA Tournament-tested teams and there is no easy game on our schedule and in this league.”
WVU will complete the non-conference schedule with a road match at James Madison on Sept. 28, before opening the month of October at Cincinnati on Oct. 1.
West Virginia returns home for one game against Georgetown on Oct. 8, before hitting the road again for matches at Pitt (Oct. 12) and Marquette (Oct. 15).
Home matches against Connecticut (Oct. 19) and Providence (Oct. 22) round out the home portion of the schedule and the Mountaineers will once again finish the season on the road against Seton Hall on Oct. 26 and Notre Dame on Oct. 29.
“You’re talking about a conference that is regularly going to have eight or nine teams in discussion for a spot in the NCAA Tournament,” LeBlanc said. “We had seven last year out of the BIG EAST, so you’re looking at the deepest conference in the country in terms of quality.”
BIG EAST Tournament action begins in November, with the first (Nov. 2) and second rounds (Nov. 5) taking place at campus sites. For the second consecutive season, the conference semifinal and finals matches will be held at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., on Nov. 11 and 13.
The complete 2011 men’s soccer schedule can be found HERE.
Notes:
• Prior to the start of the fall season, the Mountaineers will play an exhibition match against George Mason on Aug. 20 at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
• WVU will face four teams who at one point have won a NCAA Championship in men’s soccer. Virginia (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2009), Maryland (1968, 2005, 2008), UC-Santa Barbara (2006) and Connecticut (1981, 2000).
• Maryland finished last season with a No. 3 RPI, the highest of any opponent for 2011. Notre Dame, Georgetown, Providence and Connecticut all finished in the Top 20.
• When WVU faces Virginia, they will face two Hermann Trophy Watch List member’s in Will Bates and Greg Monaco. The Mountaineers will also face first team All-American Tony Cascio of Connecticut.
• Breaking opponents down by conference affiliation, WVU will face three teams from the Colonial Athletic Association, two from the Atlantic Coast Conference, two from the Big West Conference, one from the America East Conference, one from the Atlantic 10 Conference and nine from the BIG EAST Conference.
• The combined 2010 record of WVU’s 2011 opponents was 169-121-55, which comes in at a winning percentage of .570.
Notes by Opponent:
• Virginia finished 2010 with an 11-6-3 record, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to Old Dominion in the first round.
• Maryland went 19-3-1 in 2010 and lost to Michigan in double overtime in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Maryland was fifth in average home attendance in 2010 with 2,940 per game.
• Old Dominion ended 2010 with a 10-7-2 record, falling to Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Monarchs return forward Gideon Asante, a first team 2010 NSCAA All-South Region member.
• Binghamton ended 2010 with a loss to New Hampshire in the 2010 America East quarterfinals.
• UC-Santa Barbara ended its 2010 season with a 2-1 double overtime loss to California in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The squad returns David Opoku who was named to both the Soccer America and College Soccer News All-Freshmen Second Teams. The Gauchos also broke their own NCAA Division I single-season men’s soccer attendance record with an average count of 5,873 fans per game.
• Cal Poly finished 8-7-3 in 2010 and fell to UC-Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the Big West tournament. Wes Feighner was named to the NSCAA All-Far West Region Second Team. Cal Poly was fourth in average attendance with an average of 3,013 per game.
• Richmond finished 2010 with a 5-12-1 record and returns Houston Oldham, who was named second team All-Atlantic 10, and Spencer Schiff, who was tabbed to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team.
• Duquesne finished its season with an 8-7-3 record, including a tie with West Virginia in Pittsburgh, Pa. Simon Gomez was named to the NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region second team.
• Many believed that the BIG EAST match that WVU won against USF would knock USF out of contention for a spot in the NCAA Tournament last season. However, USF made the tournament and lost in the first round at Central Florida. The Bulls finished the season with a 9-6-4 record.
• James Madison finished the 2010 season with a 9-7-2 record and graduated forward C.J. Sapong, who was selected 10th overall in the first round of the 2011 Major League Soccer Superdraft.
• Cincinnati reached the BIG EAST Championship semifinals last season, falling to Providence and finishing the season with a 7-5-7 record.
• Georgetown had a phenomenal 2010 season, winning the BIG EAST regular season championship and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to UNC Greensboro in penalty kicks. The Hoyas completed the season with a 12-6-2 record with Ian Christianson being named a College Soccer News All-American and Jimmy Nealis being named a NSCAA All-Region member.
• Pitt finished 6-9-2 in 2010, with a 1-6-2 conference mark.
• Marquette put forth a successful late season run in 2010, qualifying for the BIG EAST Championship, before falling to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. The Golden Eagles completed 2010 with a 7-8-4 record. Calum Mallace was named to the second team all-BIG EAST squad.
• UConn finished with a 12-2-6 record in 2010 and fell in a shootout to Brown in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tony Cascio was named a Hermann Trophy semifinalist, while Cascio, Carlos Alvarez and Andrew Jean-Baptiste were named to the NSCAA all-Northeast Region teams.
• Providence made an improbable run into the 2010 BIG EAST Championship, dropping a 1-1 tie to Louisville in penalty kicks. The run lasted until the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where the Friars dropped a 2-1 match to Ohio State and finished the season with a 13-6-3 record.
• Seton Hall finished 2010 with a 3-13-1 overall record and a 1-8-0 mark in BIG EAST play. Brayan Martinez was selected by FC Dallas in the MLS Supplemental Draft.
• Notre Dame ended 2010 with an overtime loss to Dartmouth in the NCAA Tournament second round. The Irish finished 2010 with a 10-6-4 record and return Aaron Maund, who was a NSCAA all-Great Lakes Region honoree in 2010.
“Marlon (LeBlanc) has continually put together one of the top schedules in the country and this upcoming season is no different,” Luck said. “We are looking forward to watching the team excel this fall and make another run at the BIG EAST and national tournaments.”
The schedule consists of games against nine teams that played in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and 10 opponents who finished in the nation’s Top 50 RPI. The slate also features games against a total of seven different conferences.
“Our schedule is clearly one that is going to challenge our team and will once again be one of the better schedules in the country,” LeBlanc said. “Our goal every year with scheduling is to put our team in a position that it’s going to be prepared for postseason play in the BIG EAST and NCAA Tournaments.”
WVU opens the season with a trip to Maryland to face two Atlantic Coast Conference foes. The team will play Virginia at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Md., on Aug. 26, followed by a short trip to College Park, Md., to take on Maryland on Aug. 28.
“UVA and Maryland aren’t just two of the top teams in the nation this year, they are two of the top teams in the nation every year. There are multiple national championships between those two programs and getting to play UVA at the SoccerPlex is a tremendous opportunity. It’s a great area for us to go in from a recruiting aspect,” LeBlanc said. “To then turn around and go to Maryland on Sunday for their home opener, the last time we were there in 2007 we got the win in front of 5,000 people. Those will be two very difficult road wins for us.”
The following weekend, WVU will once again play host to the Save Face/WVU NIKE Classic presented by Jersey Subs that features matches against Binghamton on Sept. 2 and a game against Old Dominion on Sept. 4. The home-opening weekend will also feature the WVU Men’s Soccer 50-Year Anniversary and Reunion.
“Our home opener will be our 50th anniversary of men’s soccer with Paul Marco, a former player and head coach at WVU, bringing Binghamton to town. That will be special weekend for our players and alumni,” LeBlanc commented. “We certainly have our work cut out for us with Binghamton and Old Dominion.
“Our guys take a lot of pride in playing at home and last year we really put our stamp on being a dominant home team. We have another difficult schedule at home with quite a number of NCAA Tournament teams coming to Morgantown.”
On Sept. 9, WVU will travel west to take on UC-Santa Barbara, followed by a trip to Cal Poly on Sept. 11. The Mountaineers last faced UC-Santa Barbara in 2009. This will be the first trip to California in men’s soccer history.
“When we brought UC-Santa Barbara here in 2009, we made the agreement we were going to go back to their place,” LeBlanc said. “Those two environments are two of the biggest and best in college soccer. UC-Santa Barbara can put 10,000 people in the stands and Cal Poly is doing the same in the 6,000 range. We are looking at playing in three of the biggest environments in college soccer this season.”
The Mountaineers return home to play non-conference matches against Richmond on Sept. 16 and Duquesne on Sept. 18, before opening the BIG EAST season with a home match against USF on Sept. 24.
“Right off the bat we open up with USF, which has turned into a major rivalry game with us and that’s a team that has gone deep into the NCAA Tournament,” LeBlanc said. “Cincinnati was on the bubble last year and then you throw in Georgetown, Connecticut, Providence and Notre Dame, obviously those are all NCAA Tournament-tested teams and there is no easy game on our schedule and in this league.”
WVU will complete the non-conference schedule with a road match at James Madison on Sept. 28, before opening the month of October at Cincinnati on Oct. 1.
West Virginia returns home for one game against Georgetown on Oct. 8, before hitting the road again for matches at Pitt (Oct. 12) and Marquette (Oct. 15).
Home matches against Connecticut (Oct. 19) and Providence (Oct. 22) round out the home portion of the schedule and the Mountaineers will once again finish the season on the road against Seton Hall on Oct. 26 and Notre Dame on Oct. 29.
“You’re talking about a conference that is regularly going to have eight or nine teams in discussion for a spot in the NCAA Tournament,” LeBlanc said. “We had seven last year out of the BIG EAST, so you’re looking at the deepest conference in the country in terms of quality.”
BIG EAST Tournament action begins in November, with the first (Nov. 2) and second rounds (Nov. 5) taking place at campus sites. For the second consecutive season, the conference semifinal and finals matches will be held at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., on Nov. 11 and 13.
The complete 2011 men’s soccer schedule can be found HERE.
Notes:
• Prior to the start of the fall season, the Mountaineers will play an exhibition match against George Mason on Aug. 20 at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
• WVU will face four teams who at one point have won a NCAA Championship in men’s soccer. Virginia (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2009), Maryland (1968, 2005, 2008), UC-Santa Barbara (2006) and Connecticut (1981, 2000).
• Maryland finished last season with a No. 3 RPI, the highest of any opponent for 2011. Notre Dame, Georgetown, Providence and Connecticut all finished in the Top 20.
• When WVU faces Virginia, they will face two Hermann Trophy Watch List member’s in Will Bates and Greg Monaco. The Mountaineers will also face first team All-American Tony Cascio of Connecticut.
• Breaking opponents down by conference affiliation, WVU will face three teams from the Colonial Athletic Association, two from the Atlantic Coast Conference, two from the Big West Conference, one from the America East Conference, one from the Atlantic 10 Conference and nine from the BIG EAST Conference.
• The combined 2010 record of WVU’s 2011 opponents was 169-121-55, which comes in at a winning percentage of .570.
Notes by Opponent:
• Virginia finished 2010 with an 11-6-3 record, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to Old Dominion in the first round.
• Maryland went 19-3-1 in 2010 and lost to Michigan in double overtime in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Maryland was fifth in average home attendance in 2010 with 2,940 per game.
• Old Dominion ended 2010 with a 10-7-2 record, falling to Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Monarchs return forward Gideon Asante, a first team 2010 NSCAA All-South Region member.
• Binghamton ended 2010 with a loss to New Hampshire in the 2010 America East quarterfinals.
• UC-Santa Barbara ended its 2010 season with a 2-1 double overtime loss to California in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The squad returns David Opoku who was named to both the Soccer America and College Soccer News All-Freshmen Second Teams. The Gauchos also broke their own NCAA Division I single-season men’s soccer attendance record with an average count of 5,873 fans per game.
• Cal Poly finished 8-7-3 in 2010 and fell to UC-Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the Big West tournament. Wes Feighner was named to the NSCAA All-Far West Region Second Team. Cal Poly was fourth in average attendance with an average of 3,013 per game.
• Richmond finished 2010 with a 5-12-1 record and returns Houston Oldham, who was named second team All-Atlantic 10, and Spencer Schiff, who was tabbed to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team.
• Duquesne finished its season with an 8-7-3 record, including a tie with West Virginia in Pittsburgh, Pa. Simon Gomez was named to the NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region second team.
• Many believed that the BIG EAST match that WVU won against USF would knock USF out of contention for a spot in the NCAA Tournament last season. However, USF made the tournament and lost in the first round at Central Florida. The Bulls finished the season with a 9-6-4 record.
• James Madison finished the 2010 season with a 9-7-2 record and graduated forward C.J. Sapong, who was selected 10th overall in the first round of the 2011 Major League Soccer Superdraft.
• Cincinnati reached the BIG EAST Championship semifinals last season, falling to Providence and finishing the season with a 7-5-7 record.
• Georgetown had a phenomenal 2010 season, winning the BIG EAST regular season championship and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to UNC Greensboro in penalty kicks. The Hoyas completed the season with a 12-6-2 record with Ian Christianson being named a College Soccer News All-American and Jimmy Nealis being named a NSCAA All-Region member.
• Pitt finished 6-9-2 in 2010, with a 1-6-2 conference mark.
• Marquette put forth a successful late season run in 2010, qualifying for the BIG EAST Championship, before falling to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. The Golden Eagles completed 2010 with a 7-8-4 record. Calum Mallace was named to the second team all-BIG EAST squad.
• UConn finished with a 12-2-6 record in 2010 and fell in a shootout to Brown in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tony Cascio was named a Hermann Trophy semifinalist, while Cascio, Carlos Alvarez and Andrew Jean-Baptiste were named to the NSCAA all-Northeast Region teams.
• Providence made an improbable run into the 2010 BIG EAST Championship, dropping a 1-1 tie to Louisville in penalty kicks. The run lasted until the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where the Friars dropped a 2-1 match to Ohio State and finished the season with a 13-6-3 record.
• Seton Hall finished 2010 with a 3-13-1 overall record and a 1-8-0 mark in BIG EAST play. Brayan Martinez was selected by FC Dallas in the MLS Supplemental Draft.
• Notre Dame ended 2010 with an overtime loss to Dartmouth in the NCAA Tournament second round. The Irish finished 2010 with a 10-6-4 record and return Aaron Maund, who was a NSCAA all-Great Lakes Region honoree in 2010.
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