NORMAL, Ill. - With the goal of obtaining its fourth-straight Missouri Valley Conference Championship, the Illinois State soccer team announced its 2010 schedule Wednesday. The schedule consists of 18 games including two exhibition games, 10 non-conference matches, six conference matches and seven home matches.
Head coach Drew Roff feels the competitive non-conference portion of the schedule will prepare the Redbirds for its Valley competitors.
"We try to always have as many difficult opponents as possible in our schedule," Roff said. "The past couple of years our schedule wasn't as balanced as this one and we were on the road for consecutive weekends, which is really hard on a team. This schedule is very well balanced, and we're looking forward to bringing in some quality programs to play us at home. Starting with Eastern Michigan, followed by DePaul and Kansas, will be a nice way to kick off the season and will be a tough test for us. We have some really good road matches and non-conference games that will prepare us for the Valley."
After two exhibition matches, one at home against Val¬paraiso (Aug. 10) and one at Kuntz Stadium against IUPUI (Aug. 14), the Redbirds will open the regular season on the road against Akron (Aug. 20). The `Birds will continue the road trip with a match against Kent State (Aug. 22).
Illinois State then returns home for a three-game home stand against Eastern Michigan (Aug. 27), DePaul (Aug. 29) and Kansas (Sept. 5). The `Birds will then travel to Northern Illinois (Sept. 10), before returning to Adelaide Street Field for a home match against Iowa State (Sept. 12).
ISU moves into two road matches with games against Northwestern (Sept. 17) and Minnesota (Sept. 19), before beginning conference play.
After a break in the schedule at the end of September, ISU soccer will begin conference play on the road at Drake (Oct. 3), before returning home to face Northern Iowa (Oct. 8) and Missouri State (Oct. 10). The Redbirds then head to Evansville (Oct. 16) and to regional opponent, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (Oct. 20).
Illinois State will wrap up the home schedule against Indiana State (Oct. 24), before finishing the regular-season on the road against Creighton (Oct. 28).
Creighton will host the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship (Oct. 31-Nov. 7).
The Redbirds are set to continue training and preparation on campus August 5th.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
