After suffering through a blizzard recently, many places in the Northeast are forecast to have highs in the 60s and even 70s this coming week. So, that means its time for the first DIII men's soccer schedules to pop up on websites across the country and it's time to start a 2026 Schedules thread! For some reason, the first groups to post their schedules tend to be from the upper Midwest. Maybe they are trying to wish the spring into existence?
North Central (https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
North Central is coming off an odd year where they only had 2 losses all season, but they had 8 ties and missed out on the NCAA tourney. This fall, they replace Coe, Trine, Dominican, Monmouth, and Knox with Beloit, Nebraska Wesleyan, and a tricky mid-September trip to Michigan to play at Calvin, Kalamazoo, and Albion before returning home to host CCIW foe Illinois Wesleyan and Edgewood. That seems like a decent upgrade and an especially difficult stretch of games right before and after they start conference play.
North Park (https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
North Park had a down year by their lofty standards, but they still made it to the CCIW championship game before succumbing to IWU 1-0. This year, they start the season with what may be a murderer's row of historically strong programs: @ Chicago, Wash. U., Milwaukee School of Engineering, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pacific Lutheran (@ Wheaton), @ Kalamazoo, @ Trine before three straight home games against Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wheaton, and Wisconsin-Platteville. Some of those teams had down years last season, but holy cow! Those games should be fun to watch.
St. Norbert (https://athletics.snc.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
St. Norbert opened last season with a super tough schedule, playing @ Augsburg, @ Macalester, home to Calvin, home to Carthage, and home to UW Stevens Point. They came out of those first 5 games 1-4. This year is quite a bit different. Opening at Saint Johns University won't be easy, but then they play @ Hamline, home to Wisconsin-Stout, @ Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and home to Lawrence.
Wisconsin-Stout (https://stoutbluedevils.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After going 1-15-4 in only its second year of existence Wisconsin-Stout probably can't find that many opponents willing to play them. Nevertheless, removing Crown and Buena Vista -- two of the teams they tied last season -- isn't going to make it any easier to amass some wins.
Quote from: Kuiper on March 07, 2026, 08:41:49 PMNorth Park (https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
North Park had a down year by their lofty standards, but they still made it to the CCIW championship game before succumbing to IWU 1-0. This year, they start the season with what may be a murderer's row of historically strong programs: @ Chicago, Wash. U., Milwaukee School of Engineering, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pacific Lutheran (@ Wheaton), @ Kalamazoo, @ Trine before three straight home games against Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wheaton, and Wisconsin-Platteville. Some of those teams had down years last season, but holy cow! Those games should be fun to watch.
And fun to call, too. ;)
Millsaps (https://gomajors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
They are playing some school named "United States Sports University" for the second year in a row. Apparently, it's been around since 1972, but for some reason it only started offering intercollegiate athletic teams in 2024. I guess they offer majors in sports-related areas but it seems odd that someone wouldn't have thought earlier that actually having sports teams would be mission-related, right? In any event, the really crazy thing is that Millsaps is playing AT Southwestern and AT Trinity for a second year in a row. Many conferences rotate home-and-away, but I guess not in the SAA. That's kind of rough. At least they do it in one weekend and they play LeTourneau at home this year rather than traveling to Texas again. They also host Centenary instead of traveling to East Texas Baptist.
Earlham (https://goearlham.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After going 3-11-3 last season, Earlham needs to schedule a few more wins. They did add two NCCAA teams: Kuyper (which was on the schedules last season, but Kuyper cancelled its entire season after the first two games for what looks like lack of players since they only had 11 in each of their first two games) and Ohio Christian (NCCAA). They also, however, added Albion, which had a strong 12-3-2 season, and dropped Muskingum, which was one of their wins.
Quote from: Kuiper on March 11, 2026, 12:43:02 AMMillsaps (https://gomajors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
They are playing some school named "United States Sports University" for the second year in a row. Apparently, it's been around since 1972, but for some reason it only started offering intercollegiate athletic teams in 2024. I guess they offer majors in sports-related areas but it seems odd that someone wouldn't have thought earlier that actually having sports teams would be mission-related, right? In any event, the really crazy thing is that Millsaps is playing AT Southwestern and AT Trinity for a second year in a row. Many conferences rotate home-and-away, but I guess not in the SAA. That's kind of rough. At least they do it in one weekend and they play LeTourneau at home this year rather than traveling to Texas again. They also host Centenary instead of traveling to East Texas Baptist.
Apparently, Mike "the Pirate" Leach got a masters from the sports college which is located in Alabama. Never heard of it before.
La Verne (https://leopardathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
La Verne gets the prize for the most diverse (geographically, division, conference) non-conference schedule thus far. They open in Santa Barbara against DII Westmont, then hosts George Fox (Oregon/NWC) and Russell Sage (NY/Empire 8) and the following week travels to Texas to play Southwestern and Trinity from the SAA. They play at SCIAC newcomer Azusa Pacific on 10/7, which is a foe that could become a rival considering that the two campuses are about 8.5 miles away from each other. The other interesting note about Azusa Pacific joining the SCIAC is that it changes the patterns. They now play 4 teams twice and 4 teams only once. La Verne only plays once against Occidental, Whittier, CMS, and Azusa Pacific this season.
Rockford (https://rockfordregents.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After going 2-15-1 last season, this is another team looking for winnable games. They replace Olivet, Elmhurst, Beloit, Ripon (although they do play them in an exhibition) with Lawrence, Waldorf, Iowa (NAIA), Knox, and Illinois Wesleyan.
Quote from: Kuiper on March 11, 2026, 12:43:02 AMMillsaps (https://gomajors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
[...]In any event, the really crazy thing is that Millsaps is playing AT Southwestern and AT Trinity for a second year in a row. Many conferences rotate home-and-away, but I guess not in the SAA. That's kind of rough. At least they do it in one weekend and they play LeTourneau at home this year rather than traveling to Texas again. They also host Centenary instead of traveling to East Texas Baptist.
Maryville joins the conference in 2026-27, so the SAA had to adjust schedules and this sounds like a side effect of that.
As a side note, the Texas schools have to head back east for virtually every SAA championship (https://saa-sports.com/sports/2024/6/6/GEN_0606240553.aspx) next year, and for the bulk of the next three seasons. Of the 21 championships held annually, three were in Texas this year and (as of now) only one is next season. With a quarter of the conference's schools in state and fine facilities at both you'd expect 4-5.
Concordia-Moorehead (https://gocobbers.com/sports/msoc/2026-27/schedule)
Drops Saint John's, Dakota Wesleyan and adds a home-and-away series with North Central (Minn). The home-and-away non-conference schedule is not that common, but does happen, particularly if teams are in somewhat remote places and are having trouble finding opponents or if they want to cut down travel and the schools are nearby, but not in the same conference. Playing the two games back-to-back, however, on a Wednesday-Saturday, is pretty unusual. It may give the home team on the second game day an advantage as teams make adjustments.
Washington & Jefferson (https://gopresidents.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
They get the return leg of the Randolph-Macon series from last season and they drop La Roche, Penn State Altoona, and Marietta and add Wooster, Baldwin Wallace, and incoming PAC member Saint Francis. It will be particularly interesting to see how Saint Francis looks, as they will be moving from DI and that transition can be particularly rough as the team loses most of its better players from last season to the transfer portal and perhaps still needs to find its footing in DIII recruiting with the absence of scholarships.
Wheaton (IL) (https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Wheaton once again appears to have a Region X-heavy non-conference schedule. It travels to Colorado Springs to play against a couple of TBA opponents, but I presume one of them will be Colorado College, which they tied 2-2 last season @Wheaton after Colorado College tied it up in the 78th minute. Then, at Wheaton's Bob Baptista Invitational, they play Pacific Lutheran and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. It also adds home games against Trine and Calvin in place of Wash U and Kalamazoo. A potentially challenging schedule for a school looking to push beyond missing out on the NCAA tournament after losing a close game against North Park in the CCIW semifinals and missing out on the NCAA tournament despite finishing 11-3-4.
Alfred State (https://alfredstateathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
The best news in this schedule is that the Alfred Cup has become an annual event and Alfred State opens the season seeking to defend the cup after beating Alfred 2-1 last season. The biggest change is simply that Alfred State has moved from the AMCC to the SUNYAC. That's a pretty big step-up in conference quality and should pose a significant challenge, even though they've already been playing a few SUNYAC schools non-conference like Fredonia and Delhi.
Quote from: Kuiper on March 16, 2026, 12:36:34 AMWheaton (IL) (https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)Then, at Wheaton's Bob Baptista Invitational, they play Pacific Lutheran and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
This should be a fun watch for CCIW fans, as they'll get a chance to have an early side-by-comparison of the league's two traditional (but no longer exclusive) powers, what with North Park being the fourth team in the Baptista. I'd love to be there in person, but, since the D3 women's volleyball Windy City Invite is taking place in North Park's gym that weekend, and I'm only responsible for calling the WCI matches that involve North Park, I'll be watching the Baptista on my laptop from the gym's broadcasting perch while the Wentworth, Chicago, Kalamazoo, Webster, John Carroll, and Eastern volleyball teams are on the court in various permutations.
Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 16, 2026, 12:43:08 PMQuote from: Kuiper on March 16, 2026, 12:36:34 AMWheaton (IL) (https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)Then, at Wheaton's Bob Baptista Invitational, they play Pacific Lutheran and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
This should be a fun watch for CCIW fans, as they'll get a chance to have an early side-by-comparison of the league's two traditional (but no longer exclusive) powers, what with North Park being the fourth team in the Baptista. I'd love to be there in person, but, since the D3 women's volleyball Windy City Invite is taking place in North Park's gym that weekend, and I'm only responsible for calling the WCI matches that involve North Park, I'll be watching the Baptista on my laptop from the gym's broadcasting perch while the Wentworth, Chicago, Kalamazoo, Webster, John Carroll, and Eastern volleyball teams are on the court in various permutations.
It will be interesting to see how PLU and CMS fare in these games. PLU had a good record last season (13-4-3), but it was a down year for them. They did poorly in their early non-conference games, losing to St. Olaf 4-1 and Gustavus Adolphus 2-0, both in Minnesota, and then to Wheaton in Tacoma 2-1, and then losing to Whitman 3-1 in the last game of the regular season to miss out on the auto bid. They only lose 1-2 major contributors and return all their top scorers, though, including 14 goal scorer Owen Bliskis, so I expect they will still be quite competitive. CMS, on the other hand, had a down year on every level, from start to finish and in non-conference and conference, and they lose their top scorer and leader, John Laidlaw. They had a lot of young players, though, and they recruit well nationally, so I expect they will be improved, although the question is by how much.
SUNY Potsdam (https://potsdambears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Drops Mount Saint Mary's, Bard, SUNY ESF, and Baruch. Problem is those four accounted for 3 of their 5 wins and their 1 tie last season. They add Nazareth, Paul Smith's (USCAA) and Pitt-Bradford and play Manhattanville and MCLA in the Cardinal Classic, so we'll see if they have traded like-for-like. They were really uncompetitive in the SUNYAC last season, but at least they get SUNY Cobleskill on the schedule now.
Concordia Chicago (https://www.cucougars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After going 1-15-2 last season, changing teams on the schedule seems like rearranging deck chairs. They drop Lawrence, Andrews, Blackburn, Caltech, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point and add Hope College (who must be visiting Chicago for the weekend), Augustana (IL), and Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind). At least Calumet College looks a scheduled win. They went 0-17 in NAIA last season and 0-11 in 2024 and the program's llast win was in Sept 2023.
A New York City edition
Baruch (https://athletics.baruch.cuny.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
This schedule is still a work-in-progress, but they already have a few interesting matchups, such as @Delaware Valley and @Mount St. Vincent instead of Nazareth, SUNY Potsdam, and SUNY Purchase
Medgar Evars (https://mecathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
The first thing that stands out in this schedule is they are supposed to play New Jersey City University in October, even though its merger with Kean is supposed to close on July 1 and the athletics teams other than men's basketball are going end and the players invited to tryout for Kean's teams. So, I expect that will change unless Kean is going to honor the date and send its team to Brooklyn. That would certainly be a scheduled win for Kean considering Medgar Evars only won 1 game last season and wasn't competitive at all in the CUNYAC. They did a game against Five Towns College, which plays in the USCCA, but that's no pushover. They won the NACIA conference, which seems to consist primarily of all the Bryant & Stratton teams from cities in upstate NY.
Bates (https://gobatesbobcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After finishing with a winning record for the first time since 2022, they add a game at Babson along with Maine Maritime to replace University of New England and Maine-Farmington. That alone should up their strength-of-schedule. As for NESCAC play, no games are easy, but the double game weekend on 10/17-10/18 against Tufts and Amherst is a huge test. At least they play those games at home.
Wooster (https://woosterathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Wooster finished 11-2-6 last season, but lost in the NCAC semifinals in OT to Denison to culminate 4 straight games without a win to close the season, so they'll be looking to take the next step this year. They drop Waynesburg, Trine, Westminster (PA), and Mount Union and add Juniata, Wilmington, and Capital.
Hamline (https://hamlineathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Hamline had a decent year last season in the MIAC, only losing 1-0 to Augsburg, St. Olaf, Saint John's and Gustavus Adolphus, and starting out the season going 7-0-1. It will take something special to break through given the strength of their opposition, but they are laying the foundation for success. This season, they drop Wisconsin-Platteville (their one non-conference tie), Lakeland, Lawrence and Bethany Lutheran and add St. Norbert, University of Northwestern (MN). Perhaps they decided that 20 games was overkill and left them dragging late in conference play last season.
Johns Hopkins (https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Hopkins had a down season by their standard last year, finishing 8-7-6, although they did make a run in the Centennial tournament before losing 4-0 to Dickinson in the finals. Two big road trips to Tennessee and Ohio might have gotten the team off on the wrong foot. They went 2-2 on the trip, but were winless for the next 6 games after returning. This season, they mostly stay close to home to start the season. They drop Rhodes, Sewanee, Kenyon, and Denison, and pick up York and Catholic away and a big set of games on the second weekend hosting Vassar and Washington & Lee.
Grinnell College (https://pioneers.grinnell.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
This is a school that feels like it should do better than it does, even though it has recently had a string of (barely) winning records. Strong academics, huge endowment, good merit aid. I suppose it only appeals to a certain type of student and that type of student is also interested in the strong academic liberal arts colleges in the Northeast. In any event, they probably need a little push to get over the top, but the schedule changes this year won't do them any favors. They drop Bethel and Buena Vista and add Wisconsin-River Falls, Gustavus Adolphus (which was on the schedule last season, but ended up being cancelled), and Luther as a new Midwest Conference opponent.
Quote from: Kuiper on March 27, 2026, 07:27:01 PMJohns Hopkins (https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Hopkins had a down season by their standard last year, finishing 8-7-6, although they did make a run in the Centennial tournament before losing 4-0 to Dickinson in the finals. Two big road trips to Tennessee and Ohio might have gotten the team off on the wrong foot. They went 2-2 on the trip, but were winless for the next 6 games after returning. This season, they mostly stay close to home to start the season. They drop Rhodes, Sewanee, Kenyon, and Denison, and pick up York and Catholic away and a big set of games on the second weekend hosting Vassar and Washington & Lee.
True. I really think the first two Hop games (York and Catholic) are scrimmages as they are before Labor Day weekend and the schedule has 19 games. I think the NCAA allows teams to begin scheduling competitive games on Aug. 28.
Based on the schedule, I think Hop could go at least 5-1 before its Cent. Conf. schedule. That will be great.
Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on March 29, 2026, 09:25:38 PMQuote from: Kuiper on March 27, 2026, 07:27:01 PMJohns Hopkins (https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Hopkins had a down season by their standard last year, finishing 8-7-6, although they did make a run in the Centennial tournament before losing 4-0 to Dickinson in the finals. Two big road trips to Tennessee and Ohio might have gotten the team off on the wrong foot. They went 2-2 on the trip, but were winless for the next 6 games after returning. This season, they mostly stay close to home to start the season. They drop Rhodes, Sewanee, Kenyon, and Denison, and pick up York and Catholic away and a big set of games on the second weekend hosting Vassar and Washington & Lee.
True. I really think the first two Hop games (York and Catholic) are scrimmages as they are before Labor Day weekend and the schedule has 19 games. I think the NCAA allows teams to begin scheduling competitive games on Aug. 28.
Based on the schedule, I think Hop could go at least 5-1 before its Cent. Conf. schedule. That will be great.
You are correct. My mistake. I read that schedule too quickly. I think I automatically assumed York and Catholic were part of the schedule partly because they were dropping the first four opponents from last season and didn't list any scrimmages in 2025. They replace them with Shenandoah, Vassar and W&L and drop from 18 games to 17 games this season.
Beloit (https://beloitcollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Adds Dominican, North Central, Dubuque, Concordia Chicago, and Lakeland and drops Earlham, Anderson, St. Francis (ILL), Rockford, Wisconsin Eau Claire
Alma (https://almascots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
I don't normally see a team playing its first four regular season games against non-NCAA D3 opponents and 8 out of 11 non-conference opponents are not NCAA D3 teams. I guess they are are considered a remote location, since they only have one NCAA D3 non-conference opponents willing to travel to Alma and they have to go to Indiana to get 2 of their 3 D3 non-conference foes. At least they don't play Calvin twice this season.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point (https://athletics.uwsp.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
In only the second year of its program's existence, Wisconsin-Stevens Point finished 13-4-4, losing in the WIAC finals 1-0 to Eau-Claire to miss out on the WIAC automatic bid. Its best non-conference win was probably 1-0 over Edgewood last season and it looks like they've tried to increase their strength-of-schedule a little this season to give them a chance if they don't win the WIAC again this season. They swap out Edgewood for Gustavus Adolphus and MSOE, but otherwise it's pretty similar to last season.
Wisconsin-Whitewater (https://uwwsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Wisconsin-Whitewater has become a powerhouse, winning the WIAC last season and losing on PKs to a tough Wash U team in the first round of the NCAA tournament. With the WIAC small and only playing each other once, that means they have 5 conference games, plus the tournament, leaving plenty of room for a strong non-conference schedule. Last year, their three loses were to Augsburg, North Park, and Loras. This year, they replace Augsburg with Macalester, while continuing to play North Park, Loras, Lake Forest, and Wartburg.
Farmingdale State (https://farmingdalesports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Farmingdale is a decent Skyline team that doesn't shy away from playing stronger non-conference opponents even though it drags down the team's overall record. This year, they add Western Connecticut in place of Haverford and CCNY in place of Lehman.
Marietta (https://pioneers.marietta.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Marietta is the odd case of a team who had a striker (Parker Bolin) on the team who scored 19 goals, but the team still went 5-12-2 and only scored 32 goals all season. Most DIII teams can develop hard-nosed defenders and midfielders, and even get some technical players, but can never pick up a striker like that. Bolin was listed as a senior transfer who played two years at Notre Dame College (DII) and then, after Notre Dame closed, transferred to Mercyhurst (DII), where he did not play at all, before transferring to Marietta last season. If he is done, then they are back to square one. If not, however, then if they can build any semblance of a defense and other pieces of that team, they could make some strides this season. This year, they open hosting Geneva, then travel to Maryville to play two opponents TBD. After playing Franciscan and Mount St. Joseph's, they play a murderer's row of NCAC foes - Kenyon, John Carroll, Denison, and Ohio Wesleyan - before OAC play.
Curry (https://www.curryathletics.com/sports/msoc/2026-27/schedule?jsRendering=true)
Opens at home against Mass-Dartmouth again, where they hope to avoid the 5-1 shellacking they took away last season in the opener. They add Springfield, which should be a tough game, especially with Endicott three days later.
Gustavus Adolphus (https://gogusties.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
The Gusties have a sneaky tough schedule to start the season. After starting against Nebraska Wesleyan, they play Edgewood, Chicago, UW-Superior, Luther, and Lake Forest before opening MIAC play at Saint John's.
University of Saint Joseph (CT) (https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2026-27/schedule)
Replaces Wheaton (MA) (a game it lost 9-1 last season) with Hartford, but otherwise plays the same nonconference schedule, which means it has a decent chance to return to the NCAA tournament if it can find a way to replace Emmanuel Ofori (9g/5a) up top.
Illinois Wesleyan (https://www.iwusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
They replace Spalding, Centre, Kalamazoo, Eureka, and Lake Forest with Rockford and Monmouth, reducing their overall nonconference games by three. 14 games total is pretty light, so maybe they plan to add more games to the schedule. Otherwise, a drop in games and quality of opponent sounds like a team that is worried about losing three starting senior defenders and their starting GK.
Brevard (https://bctornados.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Brevard opens with two tournaments. It plays the Emory tournament on opening weekend against Oglethorpe and Emory and then it plays the Centre tournament on the second weekend against Centre and Spalding. It's a good way for a school like Brevard to get games since it is pretty far removed over to the west of the the other schools in its conference. I'm sort of surprised that it isn't playing Warren Wilson at all, though, after playing them twice last season. I think they are the closest D3 school to Brevard. They do pick up a game against Johnson & Wales Charlotte.
Whitworth (https://whitworthpirates.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
What immediately caught my eye is that Whitworth is playing Azusa Pacific in an exhibition game on Aug. 27th. You don't normally see a team from Southern California travel up to Spokane, Washington to play exhibition games. Since Azusa Pacific is a provisional D3 member this season after reclassifying from DII, though, all games are effectively exhibition games and this may be a good way for it to get some decent D3 games in and both show its commitment to any returning players and to start getting its name out there in a community that might have some kids interested in a Christian education in a warmer climate (it wasn't lost on me that Azusa Pacific also chose to travel to one of the other D3 schools on the West Coast with a formal church affiliation and Christian mission).
For Whitworth, it's also the beginning of a pretty ambitious non-conference schedule. They open the season traveling to Colorado Springs to play Austin College and Colorado College (I'm assuming that a fourth team will be at that event so Austin College, a fellow SCAC member, won't play Colorado College before conference play). The next weekend, they host Mary Hardin-Baylor, Whitman, and UC Santa Cruz, where Whitworth will play Mary Hardin-Baylor and UC Santa Cruz. That's a nice mix of Region X opponents. I love that Colorado College has started hosting their pre-conference event and that Whitworth has organized one of its own similar to the Trinity-Southwestern event where they can invite multiple teams to the area.
Averett (https://averettcougars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Only nonconference change is to add Mary Baldwin in place of NC Wesleyan. I was mostly curious about the scrimmage against Combine Academy. I looked them up and they are an international boarding school in Charlotte that also has a post-graduate program. The soccer roster looks like a United Nations of countries represented.
Lake Forest (https://goforesters.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Lake Forest was 19-2 last season, which was the best record in program history, and won its 4th MWC title in a row. It was also the fourth straight season in which the team was beaten pretty handily in the first round of the NCAA tournament despite having some strong victories in non-conference play including beating Calvin 3-0. The question is if they can find a way to get beyond a first round tourney exit. Not sure if this schedule will do it, but it does have some games that should challenge them. They take a trip to the Pacific Northwest in early September to play Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound. They also host Gustavus Adolphus and travel to Luther, which beat them 4-1 in the NCAA tournament last season.
Saint John's schedule features 5/9 non cons from the UMAC. Crown, Bethany Lutheran, North Central (MN), UW-Superior, and UW-River Falls all return with swapped locations. Johnnies open with St. Norbert and go to Minnesota-Morris. Also new additions are home games against Coe and an interesting trip to Colorado College.
https://gojohnnies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
Aurora schedule returns Greenville. Single games home to Calvin and Millikin. Also included is the Centre tournament facing Spaulding and host Centre.
https://athletics.aurora.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
The game against Colorado College is "midway" between the two schools at Creighton (Omaha NE). SJU can bus there (it's about six hours), for the Tigers it would be eight-plus hours but that's a lot cheaper than a flight (for which they'd have to bus both ways to DIA, anyway). It'll be the first time since 2006 that the two have met with CC holding a 9-5-1 advantage.
Ohio Northern (https://www.onusports.com/sports/msoc/2026-27/schedule)
Last season, they opened in Virginia at Mary Washington and Randolph Macon. This season, they open at Kenyon and then travel to Wisconsin to play at Carroll and Carthage, before a tricky four game home stretch against Hope (2-1 win last season), Ohio Wesleyan (1-1 tie last season), Rose-Hulman (1-1 tie last season), and Carnegie Mellon. A game to watch is ONU @ Wright State (DI) on Oct. 20th. Unlike most DI-DIII mid-week games in the middle of conference play, this game might actually be legitimately competitive. Wright State was 2-13-1 last year. Wright State's Head Coach, Alex Van der Sluijs, likely won't be taking Ohio Northern lightly either. Before taking the job at Wright State, he was head coach at Wilmington for four years and was OAC coach of the year in 2021. Chris Matejka, ONU's coach, was OAC coach of the year in 2022.
Azusa Pacific (https://athletics.apu.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Azusa Pacific, which is transitioning from DII to DIII starting in the 2026-27 season, when it will be a member of the SCIAC, has released its schedule. It really is a transition schedule, as it includes an exhibition game against one former DII opponent (Westmont) and a regular season game against another in October (Cal State San Marcos). The team also plays four NAIA teams and two non-conference DIII games (Lewis & Clark and UC Santa Cruz). The Lewis & Clark game should be interesting. Could it be a competitive game? Hartford, which started its transition from DI to DIII in 2023, lost a lot of players and went 4-8-2, losing badly against fellow CT schools like Conn College, Trinity, and Eastern Connecticut, but it went 0-14 in its last season of DI, so , it was starting at a low point. Azusa Pacific, by contrast, went 5-8-4 in 2025 in DII, including 4-3-3 in conference, so I expect Lewis & Clark will have difficulty finding a win in this game, but it's not out of the question. Azusa Pacific also plays 10 games against teams from the SCIAC, including Occidental twice and the other SCIAC teams once each.
Interestingly, Azusa Pacific doesn't list itself as playing an exhibition at Whitworth in pre-season, while Whitworth still lists it on their schedule. That trip must have been cancelled.
Occidental (https://oxyathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Very ambitious schedule for Oxy. They open against Azusa Pacific, as we already knew, but then they play two out of state opponents. The first is Gordon College (MA), which is kind of random, but the second is Trinity (TX) on 9/6. Trinity has been hosting SCIAC and other Region X teams in San Antonio for years, but I haven't seen them do the return trip to any of them. It looks like they are doing it in this case to play their former assistant coach Edward Cartee at CMS (which traveled to San Antonio to play Trinity last season) because the Oxy-Trinity game is listed as being at Claremont. In any event, as if playing the DIII runners up wasn't a tough enough game, Oxy then travels the following weekend to Ohio to play at Kenyon on 9/11 and Denison on 9/13. Talk about a challenging three game stretch, plus cross-country travel, over 7 days!
La Verne (https://leopardathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026#:~:text=HOME%20OF%20THE%20LA%20VERNE,October%203%2C%202026%20at%20TBD)
Just like Oxy, La Verne has a schedule that is both random and ambitious. They open the season at DII Westmont and then host George Fox (NWC) and Russell Sage (NY), which like Gordon (MA) is heading across the country to play SCIAC teams in what could be an attempt to recruit some California kids. La Verne then travels to Texas to play Trinity and Southwestern before opening conference play at Occidental. The team made it to the second round of the SCIAC tournament last season before falling to Oxy 4-1, so I'm sure they'll be looking for payback.
On a side note, Trinity certainly is filling its schedule with SCIAC teams this season with games already listed against Oxy, CMS (probably), and now La Verne. Since the SAA has fewer teams than the SCAC and some of the weaker SCAC/ASC teams don't provide much competition, Trinity might have needed to travel more to get a decent strength-of-schedule.
Franklin & Marshall (https://godiplomats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After losing the first four games last season (home to Stockton, away to three ranked opponents - Rowan, Denison, and Kenyon) and losing to Lynchburg at a neutral site along the way to a historically bad season (3-11-3 and 1-6-2 in conference), F&M's schedule has a bit different look this year. Whether that is because they crafted it to give them a better chance of success or because it is harder to schedule highly ranked opponents coming off a losing season is not clear. They still play W&L, which is usually tough and is playing @ Johns Hopkins on the same weekend, but otherwise Rutgers-Newark and Juniata come on to the schedule with W&L and F&M plays two fewer games overall. Not easy opponents, but not quite the same challenge or travel distance they took on in 2025.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 30, 2026, 12:56:16 PMFranklin & Marshall (https://godiplomats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After losing the first four games last season (home to Stockton, away to three ranked opponents - Rowan, Denison, and Kenyon) and losing to Lynchburg at a neutral site along the way to a historically bad season (3-11-3 and 1-6-2 in conference), F&M's schedule has a bit different look this year. Whether that is because they crafted it to give them a better chance of success or because it is harder to schedule highly ranked opponents coming off a losing season is not clear. They still play W&L, which is usually tough and is playing @ Johns Hopkins on the same weekend, but otherwise Rutgers-Newark and Juniata come on to the schedule with W&L and F&M plays two fewer games overall. Not easy opponents, but not quite the same challenge or travel distance they took on in 2025.
Previous year in 2024 they still had some talent and grinded out some wins. FY 2025 was imo foreseeable. Definitely, a good step back for F&M to rebuild with this schedule. Thinking that stronger teams don't want to play F&M as beating them won't mean much.
Needed a reset. It'll be a while till they get back into the mix. Going to have to score goals which they absolutely did not last year. So really not competitive unfortunately.
I'm thinking that this might not be their final schedule. Just odd to be out so soon. Usually not out till late June or so, last 2 years in late June and July in 2023. So I'm thinking that they will schedule 1 or 2 games. They have three holes in their schedule (play Saturday and then the next Sat). Lots of D3 soccer teams in PA (assuming that they will be open in the Fall)
University of New England (https://athletics.une.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
The major variable in UNE's schedule is usually which NESCAC teams will it play and where. This year, it trades out Bates for Connecticut College and gets Conn to be the visitor. Since it's late in conference play (10/17), I'm guessing Conn is either otherwise off that weekend or it's playing one of the Maine NESCAC teams on the Sunday of that weekend.
Lakeland (https://lakelandmuskies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
The one game that really sticks out on this schedule is 10/5 at University of Wisconsin (Madison) (D1). I get that DI schools like to schedule a D3 game to give the starters some stats and the bench players some playing time, but they choose Lakeland for the honor? A team that lost to Edgewood and Aurora 7-0 and St. Norbert 5-0 last season? In fairness, at least UW-Madison spreads around the wealth. Last season, it played Carroll, beating them 3-0.
Coe released their schedule late last week. Grinnell, Platteville, Cornell, Hamline, Knox, Saint Mary's, and Augustana all return with swapped locations. New non conference games are St. Scholastica, Saint John's, Emmaus Bible, Stevens Point and Elmhurst.
https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
Macalester schedule is posted. Luther, Wartburg, Eau Claire and Superior return to the schedule with swapped locations. Trips to Platteville and Whitewater round out the non conference slate so far. Linfield, SNC, and NWU came off the schedule, so they could still add one more.
https://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
Some MIAA schedules
Kalamazoo (https://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Kalamazoo seems to be making a habit of taking one long non-conference road trip a season. Last season, they went down to Texas to play Trinity and Southwestern. This year, they travel to Eastern PA to play Swarthmore and Rutgers-Newark. Then they have a nice stretch of home games against solid opponents, including games against Chicago, Oberlin, North Park, North Central, and Loras, before finishing non-conference play with a visit to Ohio to play Baldwin Wallace and Ohio Northern. For a team that finished 4-9-4 last season, they are notably short on easier opponents. The opener against Benedictine would fall into that category, but even a team like Oberlin has its moments, including beating Kenyon and Capital last season.
Calvin (https://calvinknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Calvin's schedule is a notable contrast to Kalamazoo's. Last season, it played teams like MSOE, Ohio Wesleyan, St. Norbert's, Gustavus Adolphus, and Lake Forest in non-conference play and this year all those opponents are gone and they play teams like Aurora, Geneva, Lawrence Tech, Aquinas, and Cornerstone. That doesn't mean they aren't challenging themselves, though. They also play DePauw, North Central, and Wheaton, as well as a spicy rematch of their first round NCAA tournament match last season against Grove City on Sept. 4th.
Augsburg (https://athletics.augsburg.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Augsburg follows up it's historic NCAA tourney run with an ambitious non-conference schedule. Instead of opening against St. Norbert, Linfield, Northwestern-St. Paul, and @ Luther, it plays @Loras, @Wartburg, v. Luther, and @ Edgewood. With it's top 4 offensive point leaders all graduated, it will be interesting where it gets its scoring in 2026.
Merchant Marine (https://usmmasports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026?grid=true)
USMMA had a strong season last year, tying Christopher Newport in Newport News 1-1 and finishing 12-4-3. The new addition to the schedule this season is a home game against Middlebury. The Merchant Marines played a similar match at home against Conn College last season and lost 2-0 in a tight game that was tied 0-0 at half and was 1-0 on a PK until the 80th minute.
Not sure how this will come through, but Rowan posted their schedule on their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/rowanmsoccer/p/DYPYpohxoHA/).
That's a long way from Rowan's murderers' row of 2024 (F&M, Hopkins, Cortland, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Messiah), but the game at Dickinson could be interesting.
Now third year program UW-River Falls has posted their schedule. Carleton, Wisconsin Lutheran, Luther, Bethel, Hamline, St. Scholastica, Saint John's (MN) and Concordia (MN) all return to the schedule with swapped locations. Edgewood, North Central (MN), Grinnell, Minnesota Morris, Buena Vista, and Martin Luther new the schedule this year.
https://uwrfsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
Wisconsin Lutheran Warriors have posted their schedule. Ripon and UW-River Falls return to the schedule with swapped locations. Bethany Lutheran, Martin Luther, and Carthage new opponents this year. MWC's Beloit, Lake Forest and Knox off the schedule. Looks like still room for two more games with no tournament scheduled.
https://wlcsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
Quote from: Kuiper on May 13, 2026, 10:01:38 AMThat's a long way from Rowan's murderers' row of 2024 (F&M, Hopkins, Cortland, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Messiah), but the game at Dickinson could be interesting.
agreed - that is a decent SOS drop for tournament purposes no?
Elizabethtown (https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After going 3-11-4 last season, E-Town is going to hope the team is better because the schedule hasn't changed much. They do get F&M and Messiah at home and they trade out Ithaca for Marywood, but otherwise it's pretty similar. They may, however, be better, or at least more experienced. They do lose their top two point getters, but they accounted for 3 and 2 goals, respectively, as well as their starting GK, but they had a lot of freshman and sophomores starting last season, so they will be at least more experienced.
Brandeis (https://brandeisjudges.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
First UAA schedule to drop. Brandeis is likely looking for big things after a 10-4-5 finish and a second round NCAA tournament exit on an OT loss to eventual champion Tufts. They'll have to replace their top three point getters and starting GK, but they have a lot of depth returning. They add Hobart, Skidmore, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy and drop John Carroll, Bridgewater State, and Anna Maria. Big changes are hosting Babson, Wesleyan and playing @Wheaton (MA), as well as ending UAA play hosting Chicago and NYU rather than playing them on the road.
Lewis & Clark (https://golcathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
L&C is traveling to Southern California and playing CMS and Azusa Pacific on 9/6-9/7. With CMS coming off a 4-10-6 record last season, I'm sure they won't mind if it turns out to be an easy win as they try to build confidence. For Lewis & Clark, they are probably hoping that Azusa Pacific will be going through some transition between D2 and D3 and the loss of many key players will make the game more competitive.
Pacific University (https://goboxers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Pacific is only playing two non-conference games - both against NAIA opponents (Bushnell and Evergreen State). Last season, they played three, including two DIII opponents. This is the kind of schedule that really hurts NWC under the NPI formula. For teams that don't have the money or interest in traveling every season, they basically don't have any countable non-conference games unless schools travel to them.
Ohio Wesleyan (https://battlingbishops.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After finishing 7-5-6 last season, where they started winless in their first four games in the first non-Jay Martin season, I'm sure OWU would like to get off to a better start in 2026. Not sure this schedule does them any favors, though. Instead of playing @Hope, @Calvin, Otterbein, and Carnegie Mellon, they play @Case Western, Bethany, @Otterbein, @Ohio Northern. Bethany is probably the only one of those four they can feel comfortable about. They also drop Berea and add Adrian and Penn State Behrend.
Hanover (https://athletics.hanover.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Hanover, which finished 14-4-3 last season, needs to up its strength of schedule and is picking up a game against Denison in its return trip to Kenyon (which didn't turn out to be the SoS boost it might have hoped for last season), as well as playing DePauw and Centre again and dropping Wabash. Hanover is also adding a game at Wash U and is playing against TWO DI programs (Bellarmine and Indiana). If they are trying both to upgrade their DIII SoS schedule and to schedule tougher opponents to force them to up their speed of play and physicality, then mission accomplished!
Hanover College, alma mater of Woody Harrelson - hence the reason the fictional Woody Boyd was from Hanover, IN.
Tufts is posted On Instagram..... 10 of 15
home games- 0 non-conference games on the road - that's nice
Quote from: Newenglander on May 19, 2026, 08:29:35 PMTufts is posted On Instagram..... 10 of 15
home games- 0 non-conference games on the road - that's nice
Here is the Instagram Link (https://www.instagram.com/p/DYidR-VAOwr/)
They trade out Husson for Thomas College and MIT for WPI, which are both probably like-for-like, and Emerson for Westfield State, which is harder to peg since Westfield State had a much better record than Emerson last season, but in a weaker schedule. The biggest challenge for Tufts might be the road trip to Amherst and Hamilton on 10/3-10/4. It's under 2 hours to get to Amherst, but over 3 hours to get from Amherst to Hamilton and then over 4 hours to get home to Tufts from Hamilton. That's called doing errands in some parts of Texas, but will be the most Tufts has to travel during the regular season. I doubt it will matter much though. As New Englander said, with 10/15 at home, including all the non-conference games, this is a very friendly schedule from a travel perspective.
Amherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Amherst trades out @Suffolk and @Anna Maria for Westfield State (Home) and @Eastern Connecticut State, but it has to play Babson and Albertus Magnus away and its trip to Babson is three days before it's trip to Hamilton. The bigger challenge is starting the regular season hosting Connecticut College. Amherst Beat Conn away in the opener last season when the Mammoths were ranked #1, but the two teams finished in very different spots in the NPI rankings by the end of the season.
Linfield (https://golinfieldwildcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Linfield is traveling down to SoCal to take on Pomona-Pitzer and Cal Lutheran on the first weekend of the season. Makes sense since Cal Lu was the bottom of the table in the SCIAC and Linfield was just above Lewis & Clark in the NWC, while P-P traveled to Oregon to take on Linfield last season. Linfield likely hopes to improve upon its start last year, when it went to Minnesota and got shellacked by Macalester and Augsburg.
Checking out some ODAC schedules
Roanoke (https://roanokemaroons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Roanoke started the 2025 season on a tear, going 6-1, including an opening game at Washington College that probably seemed like a good sign, and 4 of those first 7 games were on the road. Alas, the team then fell flat on its face, losing the next 6 in a row and 9 of the last 11 games. The 2026 schedule makes a decent number of changes, perhaps the most significant of which is not playing W&L twice, which it did last year to fill an open non-conference slot that started its losing streak. It also drops Wash College, Stevenson, Brevard, Methodist, NC Wesleyan, and Penn State Abington and adds Covenant, Berry, Sewanee, Salisbury, and an interesting game against Hope, which is making the trip down from Michigan.
Averett (https://averettcougars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Most notably, they drop Duke (or, more likely, Duke dropped them) after Duke beat them 10-0 last season, out-shooting Averett 49-0. They add Mary Baldwin, which I expect will be a more competitive game, and drop NC Wesleyan.
Centre (https://centrecolonels.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Centre is trying to rebound from a bad 3-9-6 season in 2025, including 1-4-2 in conference. In its JR Hoe invitational in Louisville, it plays Berea and Rose-Hulman instead of Hanover (which it plays in a stand-alone game later) and Illinois Wesleyan, and in Bob Allen Nissan Classic in Danville, it plays Aurora and Brevard instead of Nebraska Wesleyan and Maryville. It gets Denison at home and drops Warren Wilson, DePauw and Covenant in favor of Wash U and Union Commonwealth (NAIA). It also has Southwestern and Trinity at home this year in conference.
The JR Hoe Invitational is hosted by Spalding (https://spaldingathletics.com/sports/2023/5/23/2023-jr-hoe.aspx).
Baldwin Wallace (https://bwyellowjackets.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
They replace Carnegie Mellon, Penn State Behrend, John Carroll, and Dayton (DI) with Washington & Jefferson, Grove City, and Kalamazoo. Seems a bit more manageable for a team that did OK in its own conference, or in the PAC (it played enough of its schools practically to be an affiliate), but wasn't as successful with teams from the UAA, the NCAC, or elsewhere. By the way, every home game on the BW schedule has a parenthetical note saying "no animals permitted." Was this becoming such a problem that they couldn't just put it on the general facility notes, but felt they needed it next to every home game so people wouldn't miss it? Given their reported financial woes, maybe they should go in the other direction and have a "pups at the park" night and charge tickets.
Rochester (https://uofrathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
They drop Nazareth and Alvernia and add Skidmore and Hamilton, which seems like an attempt to upgrade their strength of schedule. It may just be a coincidence, but Rochester, which used to routinely get favorable treatment because of their usually strong regional ranking and wins against regionally ranked teams under the old system of NCAA tournament selection, hasn't made the tournament since 2023, the year before NPI started.
Maryville (https://mcscots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Maryville is participating in a couple of early season tournaments with interesting opponents. For its own tournament, it has invited a couple of Ohio teams - Marietta and Wilmington - down to Tennessee. The next weekend, it travels to Covenant College in Georgia to play Lynchburg and Washington & Lee. It also hosts Southwestern and Trinity (TX) in late October
Quote from: Kuiper on May 26, 2026, 05:32:19 PMMaryville (https://mcscots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Maryville is participating in a couple of early season tournaments with interesting opponents. For its own tournament, it has invited a couple of Ohio teams - Marietta and Wilmington - down to Tennessee. The next weekend, it travels to Covenant College in Georgia to play Lynchburg and Washington & Lee. It also hosts Southwestern and Trinity (TX) in late October
As the newest members of the SAA.
Regent (https://regentroyals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Regent is still in provisional status, but since they are joining the Coast-to-Coast Conference, their schedule is all non-conference games anyway. Other than UC Santa Cruz, though, the Virginia/Maryland members basically have a regional conference, and Regent takes advantage by playing Christopher Newport, Mary Washington, Salisbury, Warren Wilson, and Johnson & Wales (Charlotte). Last season, Regent was thoroughly beaten by all those teams and all the D3 teams on their schedule with the exception of Mary Baldwin and Gallaudet, and they dropped Gallaudet from the schedule in 2026. This year, the schedule is harder, so I hope their recruiting got better. They only play Mid-Atlantic Christian University once, instead of twice, and they add two trips to Pennsylvania to play Neumann, Widener, and Lancaster Bible. They drop Washington & Lee, but they pick up Hampden-Sydney.
Mary Baldwin (https://marybaldwinathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
As one of the only D3 teams that lost to Regent last season, Mary Baldwin had to go even lower to schedule competitive games. They pick up games against Bob Jones, Hagerstown Community College, and Averett, while also playing against DI James Madison (good luck?).
https://athletics.stolaf.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
St. Olaf's 2026 schedule looks pretty typical for the Oles. Nonconference headliners are Chicago, Edgewood, and Luther. All of them won a game in the NCAAs last season. Central, UW-Platteville, and UW-Superior are solid opponents as well.
One thing that bothers is the conference game against crosstown rival Carleton is again a middle of the season weekday game. For a while that game was played on the final Saturday of the regular season, but for whatever reason that tradition ended. For the last 7-8 seasons the Olaf-Carleton game has typically been a weekday 3:30pm or 4pm game. It used to be an informal gathering of soccer alumni when it was that last Saturday of the season (or at least some other Saturday), but the late afternoon weekday slot is not very conducive to getting a good alumni turnout.
Stockton has posted their schedule on the Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/stocktonmsoccer/).
Eastern Mennonite (https://emuroyals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Grove City and Geneva are off this schedule this year, but fellow Pennsylvania school Gettysburg travels to EMU. They also leave off John Jay, Mary Baldwin, and Johnson & Wales (NC) and add Salisbury, St. Mary's College of Maryland, VMI (DI).
Rhodes (https://rhodeslynx.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Rhodes had a brutally hard schedule to start last season, playing Johns Hopkins and Montclair St. This year, they start with Ozarks and Huntingdon, which should be more competitive games. In their tournament in mid-September, they play ASC schools LeTuorneau and East Texas Baptist, which should be less challenging ASC opponents than Mary Hardin-Baylor, who they played last season. They once again travel to Southwestern and Trinity in SAA play, but this time they do it for the last two games of conference play. If they have aspirations of playing in the SAA conference tournament, they would do well to build up cushion early in the season and not have to come into South Texas and pick up points to make it.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 29, 2026, 05:06:01 PMEastern Mennonite (https://emuroyals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Grove City and Geneva are off this schedule this year, but fellow Pennsylvania school Gettysburg travels to EMU. They also leave off John Jay, Mary Baldwin, and Johnson & Wales (NC) and add Salisbury, St. Mary's College of Maryland, VMI (DI).
That's a massive upgrade for EMU, a team that hasn't been above .500 since 2017.
Some Region X schedules
George Fox (https://athletics.georgefox.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After playing 4 non-conference games last season, George Fox cuts it down to two, traveling to Southern California to play SCIAC opponents La Verne and Caltech. From the perspective of NPI, however, it's actually an increase in countable games because in 2025 they played 3 NAIA opponents and 1 NCAA D3 opponent. This year, they have two D3 opponents. I doubt any of that matters to George Fox, though, since they went 5-9-6 last season and, like all NWC teams, they basically have to win the conference to go to the NCAA tournament.
LeTourneau (https://letuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
LeTourneau replaces Berry and Maryville with two other SAA opponents - Sewanee and Rhodes. They also replace a conference game against Schreiner with a non-conference game against Schreiner, which has moved from the SCAC to the ASC for Fall 2026. That's kind of symbolic of the oddity of having two D3 conferences in Texas. It makes sense that they would split in two to maximize NCAA auto bid spots and to regionalize a bit in the large Lone Star state, but regardless of which conference each school is in, they're still going to have to play each other because there aren't a lot of other D3 options available.
Babson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end. Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament. They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute. This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's. No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season. Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end. Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament. They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute. This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's. No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season. Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.
I wonder if this is still a work in progress. Only 14 games listed after regular seasons of 19-19-18 the last 3 years. September seems particularly light.
Quote from: BaboNation on June 01, 2026, 01:23:42 PMQuote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end. Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament. They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute. This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's. No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season. Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.
I wonder if this is still a work in progress. Only 14 games listed after regular seasons of 19-19-18 the last 3 years. September seems particularly light.
Agreed. The first weekend (9/5-9/6) seems to be the most glaring hole in the schedule.
Greenville (https://greenvillepanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Drops Wisconsin-Whitewater, Dubuque, Loras, and University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (NAIA) and adds Spurgeon, Illinois College, and Crown. That's a drop in quality for a team that finished 10-5-3 last season and lost in the SLIAC championship game, but at least they start conference play @Lyon to try to get some revenge.
Saint Francis University (https://sfuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
This will be the first year SFU is playing D3 as it transitions from DI. This isn't a team, however, that did poorly in DI its last season as players jumped ship. SFU was 8-9-1 and 7-2 in the NEC, losing in the NEC championship game to Farleigh Dickinson 1-0. So, if they retained any portion of their roster they should be pretty darn strong. That makes their first D3 schedule revealing. They play an entirely President's Athletic Conference schedule except for one non-conference game away at Arcadia (a really long bus ride, by the way, for a Thursday evening game). Maybe they had trouble finding opponents or this is an incomplete schedule. Otherwise, it suggests that either teams are avoiding them on the suspicion they will be too good or teams are avoiding them because it won't count for NPI purposes.
FWIW SFU's (American) football schedule consists entirely of eight PAC opponents. They were 0-11 last year.
Case Western Reserve (https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Drops Franciscan, Penn State-Behrend, and Otterbein and picks up Ohio Wesleyan (on opening day), Lycoming, and Trine. Last season, Case started the season with a 9 game unbeaten streak and a 6-0-3 record, but only won 1 game in the UAA. Not sure whether it was injuries, quality of competition, or they just wore down, but tough games against Kenyon, John Carroll, and Otterbein right before conference play might have done them in. This year, at least they put the Trine game after the Kenyon and John Carroll games and before the tough Rochester/Wash U road trip to open UAA play, although Trine away makes for three road trips in a row.
Messiah Falcons: Schedule (https://gomessiah.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026) | Write-up with Incoming Class (https://gomessiah.com/news/2026/6/3/mens-soccer-2026-schedule-and-incoming-class.aspx)
Non-Conference:
Added (3): Franciscan (A), Vassar (A), Muhlenberg (A)
Dropped (4): Claremont-M-S, Rowan, Salisbury, Lynchburg
Retained (7): Scranton (H), Dickinson (H), PSU-Harrisburg (H), E-town (A), Lancaster Bible (H), Mary Washington (A), Lycoming (A)
Salisbury is dropped after 6 seasons. Rowan is dropped after two years. Last year's neutral site game vs. Lynchburg has no follow-up. Clarement's visit to Messiah was never part of a home/away series.
This will be the first-ever encounter with Vassar. Franciscan is on the regular season schedule for the first time, having met once before in the NCAA first round in 2022 the night before Williams ousted the undefeated Falcons on PKs. Muhlenberg is back on schedule after a home/away series that straddled the missed COVID season represented the first meetings of the sides since playing annually thru the mid-2000s (before and after the Mules departure from the MAC to form the Centennial in 1993).
It looks like they re-upped for another home/away series with Scranton and Mary Washington, while this is the fourth straight year playing Lancaster Bible. Dickinson continues to be their most played non-conference opponent. Former conference foe Lycoming has remained an annual adversary since moving to the Freedom side of the MAC in 2021 and then leaving the MAC in 2023. And PSU-Harrisburg has become a regular, being on the slate six of the last seven seasons. E-town and the flying marshmallows is a given (2018 being the only year this game was not on the schedule since Messiah joined the NCAA in 1982).
University of Chicago (https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Chicago had a bounce back season last year, qualifying for the NCAA tournament and finishing 12-3-5, but two 1-0 losses to Wash U. in the regular season finale and the NCAA tournament has to have stung the Maroons. This year, they once again have a tough non-conference schedule to get them ready for UAA play. They have three straight home games to open the season, but playing those games against North Park, St. Olaf, and Gustavus Adolphus hardly constitutes easing into things. They drop MSOE, Aurora, and Hope from the non-conference schedule and pick up Carroll (WI) and Edgewood. At least they get Wash U. at home this season.
Plattsburgh (https://gocardinalsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
This is a team that hasn't lost more than 3 games since 2022 and went 10-3-5 last season, yet hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament in those three years. Part of that is because winning the SUNYAC with Cortland, Buffalo State and Oneonta dominating in recent years is pretty difficult. Plattsburgh, however, hasn't even gotten out of the first round in the SUNYAC tournament, losing to New Paltz in 2024 and Fredonia in 2025 (they didn't make it in 2023). That suggests they need to up their non-conference schedule to both increase their NPI SoS and to prepare them for the tougher conference games. In a normal year, you would have thought that beating St. Lawrence 5-2 and RPI 2-1 would be a nice boost, but 2025 wasn't a normal year for those two opponents. In 2026, Plattsburgh opens with three straight away games - St. Lawrence, Clarkson, and Norwich - the latter two of which they tied last season, and add MCLA and Stevens, while dropping Ramapo in non-conference. The Stevens game, especially in Hoboken right before the start of conference play, is the only upgrade. In conference, New Paltz (which is moving to the NJAC), Fredonia, and Buffalo State are off the schedule, while Cobleskill and Delhi take their places. That seems like a downgrade. If they can get by Oneonta and teams are roughly similar in strength to last season, Plattsburgh might be in decent shape in conference by the last game of the regular season at home to Cortland.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end. Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament. They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute. This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's. No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season. Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.
Turns out Babson's schedule that I discussed was a work-in-progress as @BaboNation suggested. It certainly doesn't get any stronger with the additions though.
On the 9/5-9/6 weekend that I pointed out was surprisingly free of games, Babson will be traveling to New Hampshire to play the Keene State tournament against Keene State and Ramapo. No disrespect for those two teams - they both had winning records last season, albeit barely - but not quite the same level as UMass Boston or Oxy or the rigors of travel to Covenant/Oglethorpe. Perhaps there are more games coming.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 04, 2026, 02:10:43 PMQuote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end. Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament. They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute. This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's. No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season. Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.
Turns out Babson's schedule that I discussed was a work-in-progress as @BaboNation suggested. It certainly doesn't get any stronger with the additions though.
On the 9/5-9/6 weekend that I pointed out was surprisingly free of games, Babson will be traveling to New Hampshire to play the Keene State tournament against Keene State and Ramapo. No disrespect for those two teams - they both had winning records last season, albeit barely - but not quite the same level as UMass Boston or Oxy or the rigors of travel to Covenant/Oglethorpe. Perhaps there are more games coming.
I agree with your assessment.
I still think Sat. 9/13 likely gets filled at least. I can't remember the last time the team was in town and didn't play on a Saturday. They can't be traveling far that weekend with a home game with Roger Williams on the following Tuesday.
Staying within the NEWMAC I'd really like to see Wheaton step up a level in SOS with their non-conference. They should be very good again this year.
Quote from: BaboNation on June 05, 2026, 11:59:10 AMQuote from: Kuiper on June 04, 2026, 02:10:43 PMQuote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end. Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament. They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute. This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's. No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season. Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.
Turns out Babson's schedule that I discussed was a work-in-progress as @BaboNation suggested. It certainly doesn't get any stronger with the additions though.
On the 9/5-9/6 weekend that I pointed out was surprisingly free of games, Babson will be traveling to New Hampshire to play the Keene State tournament against Keene State and Ramapo. No disrespect for those two teams - they both had winning records last season, albeit barely - but not quite the same level as UMass Boston or Oxy or the rigors of travel to Covenant/Oglethorpe. Perhaps there are more games coming.
I agree with your assessment.
I still think Sat. 9/13 likely gets filled at least. I can't remember the last time the team was in town and didn't play on a Saturday. They can't be traveling far that weekend with a home game with Roger Williams on the following Tuesday.
Staying within the NEWMAC I'd really like to see Wheaton step up a level in SOS with their non-conference. They should be very good again this year.
I agree with you on Wheaton should be strong this year and want to build on their QF appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. I assume they will be losing top scorer/assist man Aidan Doyle (who played his first two years at D1 Stonehill) and their starting GK and several starting defenders, but they have a lot of talent returning. Last season, they played Williams and Brandeis, but otherwise it looked like a NESCAC non-conference schedule where they weren't challenged as much.
A couple of really interesting schedules from out in Region X
Redlands (https://goredlands.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
New Redlands coach Alex Ortega has constructed a pretty ambitious schedule for his first year after leaving Amherst for the west coast. They added SCIAC and D3 newcomer Azusa Pacific to the schedule in place of UC Santa Cruz and Nelson (AZ) (NCCAA), but the rest of the schedule is going to be a challenge. They had to replace a bunch of one-off games from a slew of long road trips last season in Ralph Perez's retirement tour on the east coast. The positive is that Ortega managed to do that with a schedule that basically keeps the team at home or close to home basically until October when they travel to Eagle Rock to play Oxy. They open against Whittier in a non-conference game, which is something I haven't seen SCIAC schools do very often, if at all, lately. SCIAC teams play all but three other teams in a home-and-away series, so it makes sense to play one or more of the single game teams again, but most teams want to play against other teams for variety or to enhance strength-of-schedule. For the latter issue, that won't be necessary for Redlands because not only is Whittier likely to be one of the better SCIAC teams, but they also have Final Four team Emory and SCAC finalist Colorado College visiting Redlands. I expect Colorado College will be better this year as they should have all but two starters returning and all of their leading scorers. Redlands is returning its top scorers - Beckton and Darmanyan - and some of its starters, but it doesn't have a goalkeeper returning with any college experience and it has an entirely new coaching staff. Non-conference should be a big test for the team.
Colorado College (https://cctigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
Always the most fun schedule for the variety, the ambition, and the audacious travel for the most deserted of island schools in all of D3. The first weekend of the season they host Whitworth (NWC) and Wheaton (IL) (CCIW) (which rivals Colorado College this season for the most diverse schedule). Both those teams also play Austin College. Then, Colorado College travels to Southern California for the return game against Cal Lutheran (SCIAC) and the game against Redlands (SCIAC) mentioned above. The following weekend, they travel to Wisconsin to play Carroll (CCIW) and UW-Eau Claire (WIAC). The next weekend, they travel to Lincoln, NE (8 hour bus ride if they aren't flying) to play Nebraska Wesleyan (ARC) and St. John's University (MN) (MIAC). After that they open SCAC play by flying to Arkansas to play Hendrix and Ozarks. After 9-4/9-5, they don't have another home game until 10-9/10-11 when St. Thomas and Centenary travel to Colorado Springs. That's a heck of a lot of travel the first month of the season!
TCNJ (https://tcnjathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
TCNJ made a dramatic turnaround last season, going from 2-12-5 in 2024 to 11-5-5 in 2025. Big achievement, but to some extent it was done by feasting on some weaker teams early in the season (5-0 over Immaculata, 6-0 over Penn State Berks, 4-1 over Penn State Harrisburg, 4-0 over Farmingdale State, 3-0 over Keystone), which seemed to give them some confidence and changed the culture of expecting to lose. By the end of the season, they were beating up on NJAC teams (5-1 over Rutgers-Camden and 4-1 over Montclair State before losing to Rowan 1-0 in the NJAC championship game). In 2026, only Farmingdale State remains from those early season lopsided wins of 2025 and they also aren't playing Stevens, Arcadia, DeSales, and Haverford (all games where they either lost or tied). They replace all of these with Manhattanville, Elmira, Ithaca (both in Ithaca), Muhlenberg, Hunter, Swarthmore, and Neumann. Plus, they replace departed New Jersey City (merging with Kean) with new NJAC member SUNY New Paltz. Probably a slight schedule upgrade overall for a team that returns all but one of its regular starters, many of whom were only freshman last season and should be ready to take a step forward with a spring season and off-season under their belt.
Virginia Wesleyan (https://vwuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026)
After a strong 12-6-1 season in which Virginia Wesleyan beat both Christopher Newport and Mary Washington, tied Dickinson, and narrowly lost games to Lynchburg and Hampden-Sydney by one goal each, the team is likely looking to take the next step this season and better compete in conference and the conference tourney. They do open with a very friendly non-conference schedule, playing 6 straight home games before their first ODAC game. The only non-conference opponents returning from last season are Christopher Newport and Rutgers-Camden, and they add Kean. Moravian, William Paterson, North Carolina Wesleyan, and Mount Union (@SimpleCoach vacation in Virginia Beach?). They lose some key senior starters, including leading scorer Zach Bittler, so they'll have to find some scoring.
https://godiplomats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2026
F&M added Vassar at home on the first weekend on Sunday. Friday will be W&L as well. Up to 16 teams. Still room to add one more, maybe?? Not as hard of a schedule from last year, but will be challenging for the remnants.
FYI, F&M apparently will have at 15 freshmen this year with 20 players returning (assuming that they all come back). From time to time, F&M sheds some players who want to do something else much like any team. Definitely a coaching challenge.
Pretty ambitious schedule for Vassar with F&M, Hop, Cortland, Messiah and Montclair. https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
Quote from: stlawus on June 08, 2026, 08:36:39 PMPretty ambitious schedule for Vassar with F&M, Hop, Cortland, Messiah and Montclair. https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
That's a tough group of opponents to start the season (even if F&M doesn't bounce back from last year)!
Montclair
@Hopkins
@F&M
Cortland
@New Paltz
Messiah
@NYU
W&L finally gets a schedule up. I feel like this is one of the latest schedule releases I've seen in recent years. I hate that they start the year with a non-conference home game against Lynchburg. Maybe that was the schedule hole that was causing the problem?
F&M (A), JHU (A), Covenant and Maryville at Covenant, Mary Washington (H), and then the mid-season CNU game at home this year.
Due to the ODAC unbalanced schedule they do get H-SC, Roanoke, VWU, RMC and Lynchburg (again), along with EMU, Bridgewater, Guilford and Averett. W&L misses out on Randolph and Shenandoah.
No Emory, Oglethorpe, Catholic or Regent this year. Covenant, MW, and CNU are the holdovers plus the ridiculous opener with Lynchburg.
I'll probably try and get to the games at Covenant September 11 and 12.
Not sure if this was posted, but 2026 Muhlenberg schedule (https://muhlenbergsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)is out.