NEW YORK -- Columbia head men's soccer coach Kevin Anderson announced the team's 2010 schedule on Thursday morning. Eight home matches dot the highly-competitive schedule this fall, including a four-match homestand to conclude the month of September.
“Our goal is to play the most competitive schedule that challenges us to grow individually and collectively,” Anderson said. “Our student-athletes would be disappointed if things were to be scheduled any differently."
The season begins with a trip to Sacred Heart on Saturday, Sept. 4 and will continue with a Labor Day matchup with Boston University on Sept. 6. The Terriers were ranked as high as No. 15 in the nation and narrowly defeated the Lions, 1-0, in an evenly played match last season.
Columbia will then travel to Upstate New York for the Mayor's Cup XXXV, hosted by Hartwick College. The Lions will take on the host Hawks in Oneonta, N.Y. on Sept. 10, then closes out the tournament with a contest against Syracuse on Sept. 12.
A local trip to the Bronx will see the Lions take on Fordham on Sept. 15 before Columbia opens its home slate at Columbia Soccer Stadium on Friday, Sept. 18 against Saint Peter's. The tilt with the Peacocks begins a string of four consecutive non-conference matches played at home. Contests with Seton Hall (Sept. 21), Long Island (Sept. 24) and Delaware (Sept. 28) round out the stretch.
The Lions will begin Ivy League play with two consecutive road matches against 2009 NCAA Tournament team Brown (Oct. 2) and Penn (Oct. 9). Columbia returns home to face two more NCAA Tournament qualifiers from a year ago, Princeton on Oct. 16 and Dartmouth on Oct. 23. The tilt with the Big Green will mark Soccer Alumni Day for the men's soccer program.
A road match with Yale on Saturday, Oct. 30 will be followed by the final non-conference match of the season against Adelphi at Columbia Soccer Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The Lions return to the road for an Ivy League contest against reigning conference champion Harvard on Nov. 6, before closing out the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 13 with a home game against Cornell.
“The Ivy League is now widely perceived as one of the top conferences in the nation," Anderson said. "Half of the teams in the league made it to the NCAA tournament last year, and 2010 should see a similar representation. We are all looking forward to the 2010 season as we strive to have our program reach new heights."
