MORAGA, Calif. -- With the Saint Mary's men's soccer team's season officially starting in less than two weeks, the Gaels don't have a lot of time to prepare for its grueling 19-match schedule.
The team reported to campus early last week and has conducted twice daily training sessions to integrate its six newcomers with the rest of its veteran squad. Following a short team building and training retreat in Lake Tahoe, the team will return to campus to resume preparation for the upcoming season.
Saturday, the Gaels travel to Stanford for a 7 p.m. exhibition at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, their only preseason contest before going on the road to upstate New York for season opening matches at Colgate and Syracuse.
After a Sept. 7 contest at 6th-ranked Washington, the Gaels return to Moraga for home openers against Central Arkansas and Florida Gulf Coast. SMC plays nine non-West Coast Conference opponents and a total of 12 non-league games prior to opening conference play on Oct. 17 at San Diego.
Season, single-match, group tickets and youth/team plans are now available through the SMC Athletic Ticket Office. Fans can purchase online at SMCGaels.com.com or by calling 1-925-GoTx (4689).
Here's a quick breakdown of the Gaels' non-conference schedule, with last year's records in parentheses.
► Aug. 29 (Fri.) at Colgate
Saint Mary's meets Colgate (4-14-2, 3-5-1 6th in Patriot League) for only the second time in program history and the first since posting a 3-0 victory over the Raiders on Sept. 4, 1995 in Moraga. The Gaels have played just once in the state of New York, dropping a 3-2 decision at 10th-ranked Adelphi and knocking off 14th-ranked Seton Hall 2-0 in 1991. Saint Mary's is starting its season on the road for the first time since 2008. The Saint Mary's at Colgate game will serve as the first men's game on the new Beyer-Small '76 Field, a facility that was completed during the summer. |
► Aug. 31 (Sun.) at Syracuse
This is the first ever meeting between Saint Mary's and Syracuse (10-7-1, 3-7-1 10th in Atlantic Coast Conference) and only the third ever game for the Gaels on the road at an ACC opponent. SMC is 2-5-1 against ACC competition. Syracuse will play two exhibition contests, a 4-1 home victory over Hartwick and an Aug. 22 match at Akron, prior to its season opener against Niagara on Aug. 29. The Orange return 20 letterwinners and 12 players that started at least half its matches last season. The team also returns 96.6 percent of its 2014 goal scoring, the 3rd highest percentage in NCAA Division I. |
► Sept. 7 (Sun.) at Washington
Washington (16-2-4, 7-1-2 1st in Pacific 12 Conference) and Saint Mary's have faced each other nine times since the first meeting in 1987 but haven't met since 2005. The Huskies rank 6th in the preseason NSCAA national poll after advancing to last year's NCAA quarterfinals, where they dropped a 1-0 decision to New Mexico. UW started the season quickly in 2013, winning its first 15 games under 4th year head coach Jamie Clark, and hopes to do this same this year with games against Gonzaga and Seattle University prior to facing the Gaels. Two UW players are on the watch list for the 2014 MAC Hermann Trophy. |
► Sept. 12 (Fri.) v. Central Arkansas
Saint Mary's faces a Missouri Valley Conference team for the second time in school history when it hosts Central Arkansas (4-11-2, 0-4-2 7th in MVC) in its home opener. After qualifying for the MVC Tournament in 2011 and 2012, the Bears depended heavily on freshmen and transfer last season and were able to win just one of seven overtime games and missed out on the postseason. Central Arkansas lost just four starters from that team, but returns its top two scorers from last year in Wes Carson (7 goals, 1 assist) and Logan Miller (5 goals, 5 assists) and its leading scorer from 2012 in Manuel Montal. |
► Sept. 14 (Sun.) v. Florida Gulf Coast
Florida Gulf Coast University (8-7-2, 6-1-1 1st in Atlantic Sun Conference) will travel more than 3,000 miles for a pair of matches in the Bay Area. The Eagle play at San Francisco on Friday before facing the Gaels in the first ever meeting between the two schools and SMC's second ever against a team from the Atlantic Sun (Jacksonville, 1989). FGCU, which made headlines for its men's basketball team's nickname "Dunk City" a couple of years ago, is the 4-time defending league champion and are picked as favorites this season. Five players were picked as preseason all-league recipients. |
► Sept. 19 (Fri.) v. Seattle University
Saint Mary's and Seattle University (11-9-4, 7-0-3 1st in Western Athletic Conference) play for the first time since the only meeting between the two programs in 1978, SMC's first ever season to field an intercollegiate soccer team. That contest, a 4-1 Seattle U. victory, was the closest of SMC's eight losses that inaugural season. The Redhawks won both the WAC regular season and tournament titles in their first year in the league and knocked off Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. SU is missing last season's WAC Offensive Player of the Year Miguel Gonzales due to graduation. |
► Sept. 21 (Sun.) v. San Jose State
The San Jose State Spartans (4-13-4, 3-6-1, t6th in Western Athletic Conference) serve as the first of three straight Bay Area rival opponents to conclude SMC's non-conference schedule. SJSU is led by 1st year head coach Simon Tobin, who guided CSU Bakersfield for 27 seasons and faced the Gaels six times since 2007 – including an epic 1-0 Saint Mary's NCAA Tournament victory at 25th-ranked Bakersfield in 2011. SMC and San Jose State have six common opponents during the season. The Spartans will be coming off a home game against new WCC member Pacific two days before traveling to Moraga. |
► Sept. 26 (Fri.) at Sacramento State
Sacramento State (3-11-4, 1-8-1 4th in Big West Conference North Division) and Saint Mary's have played 30 times since the first meeting in 1979, the most frequent non-conference series in Gaels program history. The two teams have played six times in coach Adam Cooper's eight seasons at Saint Mary's and the series record is 1-1-4 during that period. SMC and the Hornets have tied in each of the last four meetings, 1-1 in 2009 and 2011 and 0-0 in 2012 and 2013. Sacramento State returns seven starters for coach Michael Linenberger, including Big West all-freshman team defender Andrew Gosselin. |
► Sept. 28 (Sun.) at UC Davis
Due to a unique WCC scheduling issue, the Saint Mary's at UC Davis (9-9-3, 4-4-2 2nd in Big West Conference North Division) match will not serve as the final non-league contest for the Gaels. SMC plays matches against Portland, Gonzaga and Pacific that do not count toward the league standings. However, the match at UC Davis will be SMC's last against non-WCC teams. The Aggies return nine starters from last year's team that dropped a tight 1-0 decision in the Big West Tournament, which determines the leagues qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. After starting the season 2-4-4, UCD went 8-3-0 to finish the year. Senior defender Ramon Martin Del Campo was called into the US U-23 National Team camp in early August. |
