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University of Massachusets Athletics
Men's Soccer Announces 2005 Schedule
March 09, 2005 | Men's Soccer
March 9, 2005
AMHERST, Mass. - Five teams which qualified for the 2004 NCAA Tournament and the addition of Atlantic 10 foes Saint Louis and Charlotte highlight the University of Massachusetts men's soccer schedule as announced by head coach Sam Koch.
"This is a very competitive schedule as we begin the season with three tournament teams," said Koch. "We will know very early where we are and what we need to do to get better."
The meetings with Saint Louis (10/16) and Charlotte (10/28) will be the first in UMass history as the two programs enter their first season as A-10 members after leaving Conference USA.
"The Atlantic 10 will be very competitive this season with how our teams did last season and what the conference returns. Saint Louis and Charlotte are very well coached, well organized programs who have had success over the last several years."
Saint Louis has one of the most successful programs in NCAA history winning 10 national championships in 13 trips. The Billikens fell in the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament last season marking the first time in 15 years that SLU did not advance to the NCAA Tournament. Charlotte has made three NCAA appearances in the last 15 years earning a trip to the Final Four in 1996. According to Koch, the addition of the two teams "will only strengthen the league as a whole."
The Minutemen kick off the season with an exhibition game against Seton Hall (8/27) at Szot Park in Chicopee, Mass. The Pirates played in last season's NCAA Tournament falling in the first round against Hofstra.
The regular season begins on the road as UMass travels to the Michigan State Fall Classic in East Lansing, Mich., playing the host Spartans (9/4) and the Michigan Wolverines (9/5). Both teams earned berths to the NCAA Tournament last season with MSU falling in the first round and Michigan defeating Akron before losing 1-0 to Indiana in the second round.
UMass opens its home schedule with a two-game stand against Cornell (9/16) and Navy (9/18). Following a trip to New Hampshire (9/21), the Maroon & White will return to Rudd Field for matches against Harvard (9/25) and Boston University (9/28). The Terriers won the America East Tournament in 2004 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to St. John's.
Rhode Island (10/8) visits Amherst to begin conference play. After games at Duquesne (10/14) and Saint Louis (10/16), the Minutemen return home for a four-game home stand that could prove vital in the stretch run of the A-10 season.
"That four game stretch is going be very important for us. With a nine game league schedule it's so important to do well at home because playing on the road is so tough in our conference. Traveling to Saint Louis after playing Duquesne and traveling to St. Bonaventure after playing a night game at Fordham will be challenging due to the distance and short amount of time between games," said Koch.
George Washington (10/21), the defending league champions, visits to begin that home stretch. UMass defeated the Colonials last season in Washington before GW closed the season with a 9-1-1 record including a 1-0 win over North Carolina.
UMass will close out its home season when it hosts Richmond (10/30).
Trips to Fordham (11/4) and St. Bonaventure (11/6) will close out the regular season.
Saint Louis will host the Atlantic 10 Tournament from Thursday, Nov. 10 through Sunday, Nov. 13. The conference champion will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Koch enters his 15th season at the helm of the men's soccer program at Massachusetts. He is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a mark of 154-97-23 (212-151-39 all-time career).