Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Virginia Tech men’s soccer head coach Mike Brizendine announced Thursday the full 2016 Hokie schedule, a tough slate that features ten teams that made the 2015 NCAA College Cup.
“Our goal in putting this type of schedule together was to make sure we challenged this group of players from top to bottom,” said Coach Brizendine. “From beginning to end, the schedule strives to make these men better players. Having nine strong home games allows us to use our home field advantage and give our fans great college soccer. You would be hard pressed to find many stronger schedules than ours this 2016 season.”
The Hokies will open the season with a pair of scrimmages, one of which is at home. Tech will take on East Tennessee State (Aug. 16) at Thompson Field at 7 p.m. and will finish the preseason at James Madison (Aug. 20).
Tech will open the regular season with a road trip to Columbus, Ohio for the Ohio State Tournament. The Hokies will meet two non-conference foes in Ohio State (Aug. 26) and Oakland (Aug. 28). Ohio State reached the third round in the 2015 College Cup before losing to future champion Stanford. This will be the first time in program history that Tech will face Oakland.
The Hokies will return to Blacksburg on Sept. 2 for the home-opener against USF at Thompson Field at 7 p.m.
The strong road schedule continues with Georgetown (Sept. 5) and will include Notre Dame* (Sept. 9), Delaware (Sept. 20), Virginia* (Sept. 30) for the Commonwealth Classic, Syracuse* (Oct. 14) and North Carolina* (Oct. 22).
At home, Tech will host Longwood (Sept. 13), NC State (Sept. 16), Clemson* (Sept. 23), VMI (Oct. 4), Duke* (Oct. 7), Wright State (Oct. 11), Charlotte (Oct. 18) and Pittsburgh* (Oct. 28) for the final game of the regular season.
The ACC slate will include Clemson, who lost in the championship game against Stanford for the national title in 2015. The conference opener will be at Notre Dame and begin at home with Clemson. The ACC regular season schedule will end with Pittsburgh at Thompson Field for Senior Day.
In all, ten teams that made the 2015 NCAA postseason appear on Tech’s schedule: Oakland, Charlotte, South Florida, Virginia, Ohio State, North Carolina, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Clemson. Ten of the 17 squads on the slate finished in the top 55 of the 2015 NCAA RPI, including six in the top 15 (Clemson: 3, Syracuse: 5, UNC: 6, Georgetown: 7, Norte Dame: 11, Ohio State: 14).
Recent national champions Virginia (2014) and Norte Dame (2013) will be met on the road this season. The Hokies open preseason camp on August 9.