Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Men's Soccer Announces 2009 Schedule
5/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
May 20, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana men's soccer team will again take on the best teams in the nation in 2009 as head coach Mike Freitag announced the 18-game regular-season slate today.
"Our 2009 schedule will showcase the best in college soccer and bring out the best in our talented team," Freitag said. "As usual it will be one of the most competitive schedules in the country. Things will kick off in high gear with the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic where we take on two of last year's College Cup participants - St. John's and Wake Forest. Our contest in California versus UCSB will be a great rematch of the 2004 NCAA Final game. Games against Louisville, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Evansville, and Butler will continue those traditional local derbies. Tournaments at Akron and Notre Dame also offer real challenges. All this added on to the always competitive Big Ten schedule will make the 2009 schedule one IU soccer fans will not want to miss."
Ten of IU's 18 opponents in 2009 advanced to last year's NCAA Tournament, including College Cup participants St. John's and Wake Forest. The season begins with those two heavyweights as the Hoosiers face the Red Storm (Sept. 4) and Demon Deacons (Sept. 6) at the annual adidas/IU Credit Union Classic to open the season. It was St. John's that knocked Indiana out the NCAA Tournament in overtime the quarterfinals last season, while Wake Forest posted a 21-2-1 record in 2008.
Indiana travels to the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament the following weekend where it will face New Mexico (Sept. 11) and Seattle (Sept. 13). The Hoosiers close out their nonconference tournament schedule at the Akron tournament where it will face the host Zips (Sept. 18) and Florida International (Sept. 20). Akron is one of six teams IU faces this season that finished 2008 ranked among the RPI top 10. In all, 13 of IU's 18 opponents were among the RPI top 60.
The Hoosiers open Big Ten play on Sept. 25 as they travels to Wisconsin. That match marks the Big Ten debut of former Hoosier player and coach and current Wisconsin head coach Todd Yeagley. Indiana returns home for the first time in nearly a month to take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Sept. 29.
A highly-anticipated showdown between Indiana and UC Santa Barbara will take place on Oct. 2 in California. The game is a rematch of the 2004 NCAA title game and gives Indiana a chance to avenge last year's 2-1 loss to the Gauchos in Bloomington.
Indiana will play host to Butler on Oct. 7 in a local derby. The Hoosiers then play four of their next five on the road with visits to Michigan (Oct. 10), Notre Dame (Oct. 14), Louisville (Oct. 21) and Northwestern (Oct. 25). Defending Big Ten regular season and tournament champion Michigan State will visit Armstrong Stadium on Oct. 18.
The season ends with three-straight home matches as Evansville (Oct. 28), Ohio State (Nov. 1) and Penn State (Nov. 6) make the trip to Bloomington. Indiana also plays host to the Big Ten Tournament this year, with the quarterfinals Nov. 12, semifinals on Nov. 13 and the championship match on Nov. 15.
NCAA Tournament play begins on Nov. 20 and runs through Dec. 13. This year's College Cup will take place Dec. 11-13 in Cary, N.C.
It is expected that several of the above contests will be selected for national television broadcast either on the Big Ten Network or Fox Soccer Channel. Those schedules will be announced later this summer.
Indiana is coming off a 14-7-3 season where it advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals before falling 3-2, in overtime at St. John's. The Hoosiers return six starters from last year's team, including second-team All-Big Ten pick Andy Adlard, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Will Bruin, and senior defender Ofori Sarkodie.
