Rutgers Men's Soccer Announces 2005 Schedule
Apr 07 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, NJ – Rutgers men’s soccer head coach Bob Reasso announced his schedule for the 2005 fall season, his 25th campaign “On the Banks.”
“We are excited for next year,” said Reasso. “We have once again challenged ourselves with a difficult schedule and have also entered a new dimension with the new-look BIG EAST Conference. We will be playing in new venues around the league and traveling to exciting soccer environments with our challenging non-conference schedule. We have a good number of home games and our tournament promises to be as exciting as ever.”
Rutgers will play 10 of its 18-game regular-season schedule at the friendly confines of Yurcak Field – the home for Rutgers soccer the past 11 years. Fans will welcome new teams to Piscataway with the expansion of the BIG EAST Conference and the addition of local soccer powerhouses to the 2005 schedule.
A staple of the schedule in early October, the Philips/adidas Rutgers Soccer Classic has entertained fans for 19 years. This year promises to be no different, as RU will open its 2005 regular season with the tournament in early September with soccer talents Holy Cross and San Diego State joining perennial participant, St. John’s. In a different format from past years, the Classic will be contested Friday and Saturday evening, Sept. 2-3. The Scarlet Knights will take on San Diego State on Friday and tackle Holy Cross on Saturday with both matches slated for 8 p.m. starts.
The second weekend of the regular season brings another challenging tournament as the Scarlet Knights will travel South for the Nike Carolina Classic where they will play 2004 NCAA Championship participants North Carolina (Sept. 9) and Wake Forest (Sept. 11).
With a challenging season of tournaments behind them, Rutgers will dive into BIG EAST play, where it will welcome newcomers Cincinnati, Louisville, DePaul and South Florida to the schedule. Marquette also joins the BIG EAST in 2005, but the two schools will not meet during the regular season.
Rutgers kicks things off in conference action where it left off last season, facing West Virginia at Yurcak Field on Friday, Sept. 16. Pittsburgh rounds out the weekend with a Sunday afternoon game at Yurcak Field.
RU will play the remainder of its September schedule on the road with trips to Seton Hall (Sept. 23), Georgetown (Sept. 25) and Princeton (Sept. 28). Princeton returns to the schedule after a one-year hiatus which ended a 47-year streak of meetings between the two New Jersey schools.
The Scarlet Knights open their October slate with a pair of home games against BIG EAST newcomer Cincinnati (Oct. 1) and Villanova (Oct. 5). In RU’s lone previous meeting with Cincinnati, the Scarlet Knights earned a 2-1 victory over the Bearcats in Cincinnati during the 2001 season.
Rutgers travels to Louisville, KY, for its first-ever meeting with BIG EAST newcomer Louisville on Oct. 8. The Scarlet Knights then return home for a midweek home game with Patriot League foe Bucknell (Oct. 12) before traveling to Chicago, IL, to face conference newcomer DePaul Saturday (Oct. 15) in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
RU kicks off a late-season three-game home swing with a Wednesday evening contest with local talent St. Peter’s (Oct. 19), rejuvenating a series that once met annually from 1978-1982.
BIG EAST newcomer South Florida (Oct. 22) and Syracuse (Oct. 26) round out Rutgers’ regular-season home slate.
Rutgers will end its regular season with a showdown against rival St. John’s on Saturday, Oct. 29. The Scarlet Knights will head to Jamaica, NY, for the third-straight season to face the Red Storm, who advanced to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals last season, at 7:30 p.m.
The 2005 BIG EAST Championship quarterfinal rounds will be held at campus sites during the first weekend in November with the semifinals and championship game contested the following weekend at Morrone Stadium on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT.
Rutgers will gear up for the 2005 regular season with a pair of home exhibition matches against Colonial Athletic Association member George Mason (Aug. 24) and Ivy League foe Brown (Aug. 27).
Rutgers Men’s Soccer 2005 Schedule
Date Opponent Location Time
Wed., Aug. 24 George Mason (Exhibition) Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 27 Brown (Exhibition) Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 2 St. John’s vs. Holy Cross^ Piscataway, NJ 5:30 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 2 San Diego State^ Piscataway, NJ 8:00 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 3 St. John’s vs. San Diego State^ Piscataway, NJ 5:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 3 Holy Cross^ Piscataway, NJ 8:00 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 9 at North Carolina% Chapel Hill, NC 7:30 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 11 vs. Wake Forest% Chapel Hill, NC 1:00 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 16 West Virginia* Piscataway, NJ 8:00 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 18 Pittsburgh* Piscataway, NJ 2:00 p.m.
Fri., Sept 23 at Seton Hall* South Orange, NJ 3:00 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 25 at Georgetown* Washington, D.C. 3:00 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 28 at Princeton Princeton, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 1 Cincinnati* Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 5 Villanova* Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 8 at Louisville* Louisville, KY 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 12 Bucknell Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 15 at DePaul Chicago, IL 1:00 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 19 St. Peter’s Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 22 South Florida* Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 26 Syracuse* Piscataway, NJ 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 29 at St. John’s* Jamaica, NY 7:30 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 6 BIG EAST Championship Quarterfinals Campus Sites TBA
Fri., Nov. 11 BIG EAST Championship Semifinals Storrs, CT TBA
Sun., Nov. 13 BIG EAST Championship Final Storrs, CT TBA
* Denotes BIG EAST match
^ 20th annual Philips/adidas Soccer Classic at Yurcak Field
% Nike Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, NC
