MEN'S SOCCER

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

Men's Soccer Announces 2007 Schedule

John Astudillo

UB opens its season at the St. John's Tournament against Fairfield on Aug. 31 in both team's first-ever encounter. Fairfield went 15-6-1 and won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title last season. UB's next opponent, Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 2, suffered a defeat in the Northeast Conference semifinal game to St. Francis (PA).

Local rival Niagara visits UB Stadium in the first home match of the season on Sept. 5. The following weekend begins the annual UB Fall Classic which will feature Siena, Central Connecticut and St. Bonaventure. The Bulls will face Siena and Central Connecticut to determine the tournament championship, and will take on SBU the following Friday in Olean, NY.

A trio of matches against Cornell, Bucknell and Detroit prepares the Bulls with an additional glimpse of competition outside the conference. Bucknell secured itself a trip to the second round of the NCAA College Cup tournament last year, defeating George Mason 1-0 in overtime.

On Sept. 28, the Bulls host the first MAC contest of the season against Bowling Green. The Falcons finished last in the MAC last year, but came on strong by bullying their way into the MAC Tournament semifinals.

In its longest stretch of the away matches, the Bulls will face two non-conference foes as well as two MAC opponents. On Oct. 6, the Bulls tangle with the Billikens of St. Louis in possibly their toughest non-conference game of the season. St. Louis was ranked seventh in the NCAA College Cup tournament, but was upset in the second round by Northwestern, 1-0, after going 13-4-2 on the year.

In a rematch of last year's MAC Tournament semifinal game, UB will visit Northern Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m.. The Bulls were shutout, 3-0, in the MAC semifinals after upsetting the nationally-ranked Huskies at UB Stadium during the regular season. NIU advanced to the second round in the NCAA College Cup before falling to Indiana, 1-0.

The Bulls finish the regular season with three games at home, starting with Akron on Oct. 26. Hartwick College joins the conference in men's soccer after having played in the Atlantic Soccer Conference for the past seven years and will square off at UB Stadium on Nov. 2 for Senior Day. Canisius closes out the season on Nov. 7. The conference play-in, semifinals and championship finals will be on Tuesday, Nov. 13, Friday, Nov. 16 and Sunday, Nov. 18.

Click here to see the Bulls' complete 2007 schedule