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Yesterday, Coach Ian McIntyre released the upcoming slate for the Orange men's soccer team. An 18 game slate awaits the men this fall. Overall it's a challenging schedule for a team that is returning a good bit of their firepower and should be able to take it in stride.
Though the Orange didn't make the NCAA tournament last year, they notched some good wins over some squads who were tournament bound, as well as hanging close in a few of their losses. I'll dive a little deeper into the layout of the squad and the outlook on the season, as well as the incoming recruits in an upcoming preview. For now I'll just break the schedule down a bit. .
The preseason consists of matches against McIntyre's former squad the Hartwick Hawks as well as perennial power Akron Zips. Yes, those Akron Zips. They're better at soccer. Trust me. Caleb Porter had them winning NCAA championships and churning out pros. Even after he left last year, they still made a good show in the tournament. It will be a good test for the team and should show us how the team has come together over the year.
Home games against Notre Dame, Virginia and Wake are all don't miss affairs. All are coming off appearances in the tournament. Notre Dame (Sept 13) happens to be the defending champion. Virginia (Sept 27) is a Final Four squad and Wake Forest (Oct 11) won a game, so that counts for something.
Away games at St. Johns, Louisville and Clemson are all coming off tournament appearances. The slate is filled out with some local rivalries with Albany, Colgate, Cornell and Niagara, some road games against the old Big East in Rutgers and UConn (another tourney squad). Hopefully some of the away games are picked up by local TV as they were last year.
Overall it should be a solid set of games for the team and we'll see how it all pans out. I'll have some previews coming up on the squad and how things look to pan out.
