Grantham, PA – As the spring weather slowly reminds everyone that sunnier days are ahead, some Messiah fans probably can't help but think about the next soccer season. To satisfy their craving for at least a moment, men's soccer released today their 2015 schedule.
The Falcons have 18 regular-season games on the docket and will host 10 of those matches on Shoemaker Field. Specifically, the early season slate has the team at home in five of their first eight games to open the new campaign.
Messiah's season will start on Friday, Sept. 4 when they travel to Pittsburg, Pa., to play Allegheny College and Carnegie Mellon University on back-to-back days. The Falcons then return home to play four-straight matches on campus against Randolph College (Sept. 11), Houghton College (Sept. 12), Gettysburg College (Sept. 16), and Rowan University (Sept. 19).
The match will Randolph will be the first-ever for the two programs, while Messiah has not faced Houghton since 2007.
Games with York College (Sept. 23), Misericordia University (Sept. 26), and Elizabethtown College (Sept. 30) close out the first month of the season before Messiah starts Commonwealth Conference play on Oct. 3 at Hood College.
Including the game with Hood, Messiah will play eight of the season's last nine games against conference opponents, with the lone exception being a home match with Washington and Lee University on Oct. 10. That game will be the first match-up between the Falcons and Generals since 1988.
Three of the Falcons' final five games will be played at home, including matches with Stevenson University (Oct. 28) and Alvernia University (Oct. 31) to round out the schedule. Both those games could have high levels of intrigue as the season closes, especially since the Mustangs tied Messiah (0-0) in double-overtime and the Crusaders fell just short of doing the same (1-0, 2OT Messiah win) last season.
Last year the Falcons carried the nation's No. 1 ranking from start to finish before getting upset by Tufts University in the NCAA Championships Sectional Final (Elite Eight). The Jumbos rode that 1-0 win over the Falcons to a National Championship, while Messiah finished with an overall record of 21-1-1.
Fans are encouraged to follow
GoMessiah.com for future news on the Falcons, including a look at the 2015 first-year class that is scheduled to be released later this month.
