Thursday, March 28, 2024

UNCW Men’s Soccer releases 2017 schedule

UNCW COllege Men's Soccer Announces 2017 Schedule
UNCW Men’s Soccer faces a tough season this year. (Port City Daily photo/COURTESY UNCW SPORTS and JOHN BROWNING)

WILMINGTON — The UNCW men’s soccer team will battle four teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament this past year during the 2017 regular season.

“Our team will face another challenging schedule, which will be great for our players and fans,” Head Coach Aidan Heaney said. “I feel we have a good balance of home and away games.

“We also have three preseason exhibition games to prepare for our opening road trip to play in a tournament in Florida before hosting North Carolina at home and Virginia on the road. The quality of our non-conference slate is high, so we will certainly be well-tested by the time Colonial Athletic Association play commences.”

The Seahawks open their regular season slate with a pair of games in Florida, taking on Jacksonville on Friday, Aug. 25, and North Florida on Sunday, Aug. 27.

UNCW begins its home schedule on Friday, Sept. 1, when North Carolina makes the short journey to UNCW Soccer Stadium for a 7 p.m. contest. The Tar Heels reached the semifinals of the NCAA College Cup last year.

After traveling to Virginia for a Labor Day contest against the Cavaliers, UNCW returns to the Port City for a non-league fixture against Longwood on Friday, Sept. 8.

The Seahawks begin CAA play with back-to-back road contests at defending league champion Delaware (Sept. 17) and William & Mary (Sept. 23) before its CAA home opener against Elon on Sept. 27.

Former CAA rival VCU comes to Wilmington for a non-conference contest on Saturday, Sept. 30, and the Seahawks travel to Coastal Carolina for a 7 p.m. contest on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

UNCW returns to league play with back-to-back home contests against Drexel (Oct. 7) and College of Charleston (Oct. 11) before embarking on a three-game road swing against James Madison, NC State and Hofstra.

The Seahawks close out the regular season by hosting Northeastern on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m.

The CAA quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, Nov. 4, before the tournament moves to the site of the regular season champion for the semifinals and finals on Nov. 10 and Nov. 12.

“There is a lot of parity in the CAA, so I expect our players to prepare well over the summer and come back ready to give their all to win a championship this fall,” Heaney said.

In addition to the Seahawks’ regular season schedule, they will play three exhibition contests. UNCW hosts High Point on Saturday, Aug. 12, before a pair of road exhibitions at Gardner-Webb on Aug. 15 and Wake Forest on Aug. 19. The Demon Deacons reached the NCAA College Cup finals before falling to Stanford in a penalty kick shootout.

Ticket information for the 2017 season will be announced at a later date.

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