Northwestern University Athletics
Nine Home Matches Dot the 2007 Schedule
7/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
July 19, 2007
2007 Schedule
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern University announced its 2007 men's soccer schedule, which begins Friday, Aug. 31 when it hosts the Fifth Annual Lakeside Classic in Evanston. The Wildcats will have nine home matches in all as they attempt to build upon their magical 2006 season that saw them win 14 games and advance to the NCAA quarterfinals.
The Wildcats begin with three challenging exhibition matches, beginning with Marquette at home on Sunday, Aug. 19 and two on the road at Saint Louis and Notre Dame -- both NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago.
The 'Cats begin playing for keeps at the Lakeside Classic Aug. 31 and Sept. 2 when they host Colgate and Bucknell, another NCAA qualifier in 2006 and champions of the Patriot League. From there the 'Cats hit the road for two tournaments, beginning with two Ivy League foes, Yale and Dartmouth, at the Yale Soccer Classic Sept. 7 & 9. The last tournament takes the Wildcats west to DeKalb, Ill., where they will face Missouri-Kansas City on Sept. 14 and Butler on the 16th on the campus of Northern Illinois.
"We are very excited about our schedule this year," head coach Tim Lenahan said. "We start off with the Lakeside Classic here at home and in our first game we welcome back former Northwestern assistant Erik Ronning, who was a big part in building this program. Bucknell, our second opponent, won the Patriot League and went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Heading to the Yale Tournament, we play two of the Ivy powers in Dartmouth and Yale in what should be a great weekend of soccer. We also return to play in the Northern Illinois Tournament vs. UMKC and Butler before the start of conference play. The Big Ten should again this year be very competitive and should prove again to be one of the top soccer conferences in the country.
"All in all, it is a challenging schedule which will demand the best out of our team to be successful. We are looking forward to an exciting season."
The Big Ten portion of the schedule kicks off Sunday, Sept. 23 at Ohio State. Last year Northwestern defeated the Buckeyes in the conference opener, the first win over OSU in 13 years. The Wildcats then round out the month of September with a nonconference match against Loyola (Ill.) at home on Sept. 26 and a road contest at Penn State on the 29th.
Six of Northwestern's final eight regular-season games will be played in Evanston as the Wildcats begin with three-straight home matches against Wisconsin, DePaul and Indiana. Road matches at Michigan and Northern Illinois follow before ending the regular season with Michigan State, 2006 NCAA qualifier Western Illinois and Wisconsin-Green Bay at home.
This year's Big Ten Tournament will take place in East Lansing, Mich. Nov. 8-11.
This season the Wildcats will play their home games at the new soccer and lacrosse complex -- located adjacent to the existing field -- which is scheduled for completion in September. Among the amenities will be a new state-of-the-art playing surface designed by FieldTurf, lights, grandstands, scoreboard, sound system and press box.
"One of the most exciting aspects this year will be the opening of our new soccer facility," Lenahan said. "It will be one of the most scenic facilities in the country nestled directly on Lake Michigan with a beautiful view of the Chicago Skyline. The surface will be state-of-the-art and similar to the surface used for the current U-20 World Championships."
