NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State soccer program revealed its 17-game 2021 schedule on Thursday, which features matchups with the eight other Missouri Valley Conference programs, in addition to nine non-conference matches.
The Redbirds will also play Butler (Aug. 8) and SIUE (Aug. 11) in exhibition matches before a Red vs White intrasquad scrimmage (Aug. 15) to tune up for the regular season.
Illinois State will open the season at Eastern Michigan (Aug. 19) before playing host to Illinois (Aug. 22) and traveling to Western Illinois (Aug. 26). The Redbirds then host Saint Louis (Aug. 29) and Utah (Sept. 2) before heading to Milwaukee (Sept. 5) and returning to Normal for a match with Northwestern (Sept. 9).
ISU will play its final road non-conference match at Northern Illinois (Sept. 12) prior to traveling to Valparaiso (Sept. 17) to begin MVC play. The 'Birds are scheduled to face Toledo (Sept. 19) at home in their final non-conference match.
The Redbirds will then play its remaining seven conference games, highlighted by a home contest against Loyola Chicago on October 13 and the regular-season finale at Indiana State on October 22.
The six-team MVC Tournament will be single-elimination with potential for matches on October 31, November 5, and November 7.
NOTES
- Both Milwaukee and Loyola Chicago have made the NCAA Tournament each of the last three seasons.
- Northwestern played in the NCAA Tournament from 2015-2018 while Toledo and Utah most recently appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
- The Redbirds, which have beat every other team on the schedule at least once in program history, will go for the program's first win over Utah. The teams most recently met in the NCAA Tournament in 1997 but also met in Normal in 1996 with Utah winning both matches.
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