Men's Soccer Season Opens Friday

Men’s Soccer Weekend Schedule (Weekend of Aug. 30)
Friday, Aug. 30 (all times eastern)
IUPUI at Detroit, 4 p.m. – HLN
Green Bay at DePaul, 5 p.m.
Valparaiso at Jacksonville, 7 p.m.
Oakland at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Wright State at #rv Kentucky, 7:30 p.m.
Eastern Illinois at UIC, 8 p.m.
#12 Marquette at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m. – HLN
Cleveland State at Oregon State, 10 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 1
Valparaiso at North Florida, 1 p.m.
#rv UC Santa Barbara at UIC, 2 p.m.
Oakland at Duquesne, 3 p.m.
Cleveland State at Portland, 4 p.m.
Green Bay at #12 Marquette, 5 p.m.

After a summer of buildup, the 2013 men’s soccer season kicks off on Friday afternoon, as all eight Horizon League programs will be in action on the season’s opening night.

The last two years have seen the preseason poll turned upside down, with the team picked at the bottom of the poll ending up at or near the top. In 2012, Detroit won the Horizon League regular-season title after being picked last, and the Titans will be the first to play in 2013, hosting IUPUI at 4 p.m. ET, live on the Horizon League Network.

Led by reining Horizon League Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year Adam Bedell, the Titans were tabbed fourth in this year’s preseason poll. Last season, the six-foot-six senior midfielder had 11 goals, five assists and 27 points for en route to leading the Titans to a regular season Horizon League championship.

Trying to follow the path laid out by Detroit and Wright State in going from preseason picked last to to the top this year will be Green Bay. In head coach Dan Popik’s second year at the helm, the Phoenix will open the 2013 campaign against two strong opponents, beginning with a 5 p.m. ET match at DePaul.

The Phoenix will be among the youngest teams in the nation this season, as a young squad featuring 19 newcomers will take to the pitch for the Phoenix this weekend.

Green Bay will wrap its weekend at No. 12 Marquette on Sunday.

A trio of teams will compete in season-openers during the 7:00 hour, with Valparaiso, Oakland and Wright State all stepping onto the pitch.

Valparaiso, the 2011 Horizon League regular-season champions, will open the Mike Gibbs Memorial Tournament against host Jacksonville. It will be a new beginning for the Crusaders in goal, as Kyle Zobeck has moved on to a professional career with FC Dallas.

Still, head coach Mike Avery will rely on a stout defense throughout the year; in 2012, the Crusaders set the standard in the Horizon League and ranked 19th in the country in team goals against. Conceding only 17 goals in 20 games, the team achieved a GAA of just 0.81. The team returns a mixture of youth and experience in the back. Led by veterans Mitch Albrecht, Yannick Iwunze, and Zev Taublieb, this group will also feature freshmen Adrian Graham and Omar Lawrence and transfer Jack McIver.

Appearing in its first matches under the Horizon League banner will be Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies, regular-season champions in the Summit League a year ago, will compete in the City of Pittsburgh Invitational over the weekend, first taking on Pittsburgh.

Finishing 2-0-1 in the preseason, Oakland was picked second in the Horizon League preseason poll, along with Milwaukee. Oakland tallied five goals in its three preseason matches, while keeper Sean Lewis did not allow a goal in 121 minutes of action.

Oakland will wrap the invitational at Duquesne on Sunday afternoon.

After two years of riding a roller coaster, Wright State will once again look to find the high points, opening the season against a Kentucky squad receiving votes in the NSCAA poll.

In 2011, Wright State went from being picked last in the preseason poll to the championship match of the Horizon League Tournament, falling agonizingly short of a NCAA Tournament bid in overtime. With expectations high in 2012, the Raiders were undone by injuries.

This season sees Wright State picked sixth in the conference, but were once of six schools to receive a first-place vote. The Raiders displayed an explosive offense in the preseason, scoring four goals to roll past Duquesne, 4-1, in their final exhibition match.

Chris DuPont, a newcomer to the Wright State midfield, scored two of the goals, while the Raiders will also look to 2012 Horizon League Newcomer of the Year Brett Elder to build on his nine-goal, 21-point freshman campaign.

UIC and Milwaukee will be the lone Horizon League programs to open its respective seasons at home, with the Flames hosting two matches.

UIC will welcome Eastern Illinois to Flames Field on Friday night before a match with a UC Santa Barbara squad receiving votes in the NSCAA poll on Sunday. College Soccer News rates the Gauchos at No. 13 in the country.

Six seniors look to lead UIC's squad of 13 freshmen, eight sophomores and one junior.  The Flames finished preseason action with a 1-1 record, highlighted by a 2-1 victory over Wisconsin on Aug. 19.

In 2012, Josh Beard was tabbed as second-team All-Horizon League while UIC's lone junior Jesus Torres picked up first-team accolades.

Expectations are running high at Milwaukee, where the Panthers were picked to finish second in the conference preseason poll, alongside Oakland. Milwaukee will be opening the season strong, welcoming in-city rival Marquette to Laura Moynihan Field for the annual Milwaukee Cup battle. HLN will carry the match live at 8:30 p.m.

The Panthers have the upper hand all-time, posting a 27-10-3 record in the series. They also posted back-to-back wins in 2010 and 2011, reclaiming the Cup in 2010 with a 4-2 victory and keeping possession in 2011 with a 2-1 final score.

The 2012 matchup will go down in the memory books, as the Golden Eagles, trailing the Panthers 2-1 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the contest, pulled off a stunning finish to grab possession of the Cup. Following a goalkeeper miscue, Marquette found the equalizer at the 81:53 mark and then won the contest at the buzzer as the winning goal crossed the line at the 89:59 mark before the horn sounded.

The team had three players earn all-conference honors - the most since 2006 - when Laurie Bell earned First-Team All-Horizon League status and James Ashcroft and Declan Rodriguez were tabbed for the second team. It also had more than one player on the league all-newcomer team (Rodriguez and Aaron Horvat) for the first time since 2008.

Wrapping the night will be the defending Horizon League champions, Cleveland State. The Vikings will begin their season far from home, opening the Nike Portland Invitational at in Corvallis, Ore., against Oregon State.

The Vikings, who made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1980 last year, return two First-Team All-League performers last season in seniors Aslinn Rodas and Admir Suljevic. Suljevic led Cleveland State in goals (5), assists (4) and points (14) last season.

Also back for the Vikings is Second-Team selection Zach Ellis-Hayden and All-Newcomer team honorees Danilo Radjen and Alfonso Sandoval.

The Vikings will be looking to replace the MVP of the Horizon League Tournament, keeper Brad Stuver. Stuver was drafted by the Montreal Impact in the 2012 Major League Soccer Draft and is currently with the Columbus Crew.

Cleveland State will close the tournament on Sunday against the University of Portland.