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July 19, 2005
Soccer Team Set to Play
School-Record 10 Home Games in 2005
Youngstown -- The Youngstown State
soccer program will
play a school-record 10 home games this
season, and in the process doubling
the total of home contests from a
year ago, second-year head coach
Anthony James announced on
Wednesday. The previous school mark
for home contests in a single year
was nine set in 1997.
While the Penguins open with three of their first four games
on the road they then play six
consecutive games at Stambaugh
Stadium, marking just the second
six-match homestand in the program's
10th year of existence.
"I think the schedule this year is set up where if our
players do what they can do, that
finishing .500 is a realistic goal,"
James said. "I am very excited that
we have a good number of home games
and I am looking forward to hosting
the Penguin Classic on Sept. 9 and
11."
YSU opens the season on the road playing at Division
II-member Northern Michigan on
August 26 before returning home to
play the first of its record 10 home
contests against Robert Morris on
August 29.
The Penguins and Colonials tied (0-0) in Coach James'
Youngstown State debut last year.
Since the YSU program started in
1996, the Penguins and RMU have
played every season with the YSU's
last win coming in 1999.
Youngstown State is back on the road for two straight
contests with a game at IUPUI on
Sept. 2 before playing at Ball State
on Sept. 4. YSU and IUPUI have
played five times before with the
last meeting coming in 2002. The
Penguins have split two contests
with Ball State with the last match
between the schools occurring in
2000.
YSU begins its six-match homestand when they play host to
Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 9 in the
Penguin Classic at Stambaugh
Stadium. The other first-round match
that Friday features Binghamton vs.
VMI. The final day of action is
Sunday, Sept. 11 when the Penguins
will face VMI while Binghamton will
play Manhattan.
Kent State makes its first visit to Youngstown since 1998
when YSU entertains the Golden
Flashes on Sept. 16. It marks the
fifth meeting between the schools.
The Penguins conclude the weekend
playing host to IPFW for the first
time in school history on Sept. 18.
Youngstown State plays its third straight weekend at home
with matches against St. Francis
(Pa.) and begins Horizon League
action against Wright State. On
Sept. 23, YSU plays St. Francis for
the sixth time in school history and
first since 2000. The Penguins have
never beaten Wright State in seven
previous meetings.
The final three non-league games are on the road. YSU heads
to Western New York for games
against Niagara (Sept. 30) and
Canisius (Oct. 2). The Penguins have
never beaten the Purple Eagles in
six previous contests while they are
2-3 against the Golden Griffs.
Youngstown State also plays at
Valparaiso on Oct. 16 in the first
meeting between the schools since
2001.
"One thing people will notice is that we have a young team
and because we have such a young
team we tried to put forth a
schedule that does not require
extensive travel," James said. "We
tried to put our non-league focus on
playing against teams from the
region."
Following that weekend, YSU plays six of its final seven
games against Horizon League foes.
The Penguins end up playing their
first three league games at home
when Loyola (Oct. 6) and Butler
(Oct. 8) visit Stambaugh Stadium a
week after the home league opener
against Wright State.
However, the schedule does not end favorably with four --
including four straight -- of the
last five matches coming on the
road.
The difficult stretch begins with a road game at 2004
regular-season league champion
UW-Milwaukee (Oct. 14) followed up
with the road tilt at Valparaiso.
YSU heads back to Wisconsin for a
single game against UW-Green Bay on
Sunday, Oct. 23. The final road
regular-season contest is at 2004
league-tournament Detroit on Friday,
Oct. 28.
The final home game of the season is set against Cleveland
State on Sunday, Oct. 30.
The Horizon League Tournament is set for Nov. 3-5 in Green
Bay, Wis. |
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