Head coach Dean Foti and the Orange open its home schedule on Sept. 16 against Fordham.
Early Season Tournaments Highlight 2007 Men's Soccer Schedule
3/13/2007 10:17:04 AM | Men's Soccer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse men’s soccer team will make appearances in two tournaments to kick off its 2007 schedule, which was released by Orange head coach Dean Foti, on Tuesday, March 13. SU will open the year against Penn State and Ohio State in the Bert and Iris Wolstein Soccer Classic, hosted by Ohio State on Aug. 31 and Sept. 2. The following weekend, the Orange will play Seton Hall (Sept. 7) and James Madison (Sept. 9) in the annual Mayor’s Cup in Oneonta, N.Y. Overall, Syracuse will play a total of 18 games in 2007 (seven home, eight on the road, and three neutral site), including an 11-game BIG EAST Conference slate.
Ohio State’s annual tournament was renamed last year to honor Bert and Iris Wolstein, who first brought professional soccer to the state of Ohio. From 1979 to 1988 Bert L. Wolstein (deceased 2004) was the owner and president of the Cleveland Force, a professional indoor soccer team in the Major Indoor Soccer League.
The Mayor’s Cup began in 1976 and is held in Oneonta, home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. It includes teams from all divisions with Syracuse, Hartwick, James Madison, and Seton Hall making up this year’s Division I field.
In addition to its four tournament matches, SU will play a non-conference road game at Albany on Sept. 12, and then hosts Fordham in its home opener on Sept. 16. The Orange also travels back to Oneonta for a non-league match with Hartwick later in the year.
“We’ve put together a schedule that will test us early and prepare us for a difficult BIG EAST season,” Foti said. “With the history of teams like Penn State, Ohio State and Hartwick and their past involvement in the NCAA Tournament, it could potentially be the toughest schedule we’ve ever played.”
When the conference season begins the Orange’s road doesn’t get any easier. Six of SU’s 11 league opponents (Rutgers, St. John’s, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Providence) earned berths in the 2006 NCAA Tournament with St. John’s, last year’s league champion, and West Virginia, last season’s conference runner-up, advancing to the second round.
SU’s league schedule kicks off with home matches against Pittsburgh (Sept. 21) and West Virginia (Sept. 23). The contests will mark the first time the Orange has played either team since 2004 due to the league’s unbalanced schedule.
Five of the Orange’s next six games are the road. Syracuse plays at Providence (Sept. 28), Connecticut (Sept. 30) and Rutgers (Oct. 7) before returning home to host Cincinnati on Oct. 13. Following SU’s Oct. 17 contest at Hartwick, it returns to conference action with a match at Louisville on Oct. 20.
The team ends the month of October with a three-game homestand. The Orange will face Villanova (Oct. 24), South Florida (Oct. 27), and St. John’s at the SU Soccer Stadium before concluding the regular season at DePaul on Nov. 3.
The 2007 BIG EAST Championship will get underway with first round games on Nov. 7. The top six teams in the Red and Blue Divisions will make up the tournament field. The conference semifinals and championship match will be played at Connecticut’s Morrone Stadium on Nov. 16 and Nov. 18.
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