Red Flash 2006 Men’s Soccer Schedule Highlighted By Matches Against Four NCAA Tournament Participants
LORETTO, Pa. (May 12, 2006) – The 2006 Saint Francis men’s soccer season will start with a bang, even before the real games begin.
The Red Flash will play a pair of exhibition games against Big East foes Pittsburgh (Aug. 19) and Notre Dame (Aug. 21). The match against the Fighting Irish will be a benefit exhibition match for Grass Roots Soccer, a program that helps teach aids awareness in Africa.
The regular season schedule features tournaments at Bradley and New Mexico, and a pair of matches against teams that finished in the nation’s Top 11 last season.
“This is a schedule that will challenge us heading into the conference portion of our schedule,” said Saint Francis head coach B.J. Craig. “We feel that we have a very strong team coming back, and we want them to be tested. This schedule will allow for that. We are excited to travel to New Mexico to play in its prestigious tournament, and we are equally excited to battle teams from some of the power conferences like the Big East and the ACC."
Saint Francis, which is returning 10 starters from a 7-6-5 team, will begin the regular season by traveling to a tournament at Bradley, where the Red Flash will battle with the host Braves (Aug. 25) and Western Michigan (Aug. 26). Bradley is a school rich in soccer tradition, and was an NCAA Tournament participant a year ago.
Head coach B.J. Craig, and his squad, will then play host to Drexel (Sept. 1) in the team’s home opener, before traveling to Akron (Sept. 3), which finished last season as the nation’s fifth-ranked team after making it to the final eight in the NCAA Tournament.
Following the game against the Zips, the Red Flash will wrap up their non-conference schedule with away matches at Virginia (Sept. 12), Howard (Sept. 16) and New Mexico. The Cavaliers finished as the nation’s 11th-ranked team last season. They made it to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. While in New Mexico, Saint Francis will play College of Charleston (Sept. 22) and American (Sept. 24).
The Northeast Conference portion of the schedule begins with three road matches, highlighted by the opener against in-state rival, and NCAA participant, Robert Morris (Oct. 1). Monmouth (Oct. 6) and Mount Saint Mary’s (Oct. 8) follow before the Red Flash return to the comforts of the Stokes Athletics Field for home contests against Saint Francis-NY (Oct. 13) and Long Island (Oct. 15).
Saint Francis will then hit the road for its last two conference road games against Sacred Heart (Oct. 20) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Oct. 22), before returning home the next weekend to wrap up the regular season against Central Connecticut State (Oct. 27) and Quinnipiac (Oct. 29).
The Northeast Conference Championships will be held Nov. 3 and 5, at the site of the regular season champion.
2006 Saint Francis Men’s Soccer Schedule
Sat. 8/19 at Pittsburgh (Exhibition) 12:00 p.m.
Mon 8/21 at Notre Dame (Exhibition) 7:00 p.m.
8/25-26 at Bradley Tournament
Fri. 8/25 at Bradley 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 8/26 vs. Western Michigan 5:00 p.m.
Fri. 9/1 Drexel 4:00 p.m.
Sun. 9/3 at Akron 1:00 p.m.
Wed. 9/6 Bucknell 4:00 p.m.
Tues. 9/12 at Virginia 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 9/16 at Howard TBA
9/22-24 at New Mexico Tournament
Fri. 9/22 vs. College of Charleston 7:00 p.m.
Sun. 9/24 vs. American 12:30 p.m.
Sun. 10/1 at Robert Morris* 2:30 p.m.
Fri. 10/6 at Monmouth* 3:00 p.m.
Sun. 10/8 at Mount Saint Mary’s* 1:00 p.m.
Fri. 10/13 Saint Francis-NY* 3:00 p.m.
Sun. 10/15 Long Island* 1:00 p.m.
Fri. 10/20 at Sacred Heart* 3:00 p.m.
Sun. 10/22 at Fairleigh Dickinson* 1:00 p.m.
Fri. 10/27 Central Connecticut State* 2:30 p.m.
Sun. 10/29 Quinnipiac* 1:00 p.m.
11/3-5 Northeast Conference Championships at TBD
Fri. 11/10 NCAA Tournament at TBD
Bold indicates Home Games
* indicates Northeast Conference matches
All times are eastern