2025 Schedules

[stlawus]

Cortland

Traditional opener against Rochester with SLU on the same weekend. Added Vassar this year which should be a good one.  17 games this season which is light compared to years past.

[Kuiper]

Beloit

A 2-16 team is going to have a hard time finding a schedule to get them some wins.  Nevertheless, this schedule seems harder rather than easier.  Gone are Lakeland, Eureka, Saint Mary's (MN), Principia, and Westminster.  In their place, they've added games against Earlham, Rockford, Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Roanoke

It's easier to mention the non-conference opponents they keep this year - William Peace and Penn State Abington - than the ones they dropped.  They add Washington College (MD), Stevenson, Brevard, Methodist, Washington & Lee and Mary Washington.  That's probably an upgrade from last season, when the stronger teams they played were Catholic, Emory, Oglethorpe, Marietta, and Centre.

[Kuiper]

Not a full schedule, but Denison coach Brandon Bianco revealed on his interview with Simple Coach that they are traveling to the NJ/NYC area the first weekend of the season to play Stevens on Friday night and then Stockton on Sunday and then the second weekend (which we already knew about through their opponents' respective schedules) they are hosting Franklin & Marshall on Friday night and Johns Hopkins on Sunday.  Three NCAA tournament teams in the first four games with a fourth game against a team that made the NJAC championship game last season is one way to open the season after graduating 11 contributing players from last year's team.

[Kuiper]

Curry College

Drops MIT, Colby-Sawyer, Lasell, Fitchburg State, Worcester State, and Plymouth state and adds Dean, Regis, Maine-Fort Kent, and Framingham State

Dickinson

I posted about this when it came out on Instagram, but here's the official schedule.

I expected to see them take on a little more challenging schedule than last year and they do add Christopher Newport (away) early in the season as a serious test, but mostly this is pretty similar to last season.  Outside of CNU and Messiah, most of their strongest tests come in conference.

[Kuiper]

Rutgers-Camden

Rutgers-Camden walked a tightrope last season.  An astounding 16 of their 21 games were 1-0 wins, 0-1 losses, or 0-0/1-1 ties. Of the remaining 5 games, only 3 were decided by more than one goal and only 1 decided by more than two goals.  Could just have been quirk, but maybe they are a team that plays compactly and conservatively, mucks things up and hopes to nick a goal in a scramble in the box and avoid a similar fate on the other end.  That is the kind of strategy that helps a team stay in a game against a top team and allows a weaker team to hang with them when they shouldn't.  Either way, changing opponents under that scenario doesn't necessarily change results, so why bother?  This year's schedule kind of reflects that attitude.  They drop Neumann and Rosemont and add St. John's Fisher, Salisbury and Muhlenberg.

Misericordia

Drops Penn State-Brandywine and adds NYU and Ursinus

Ursinus

It looks like they're taking off the training wheels this year as they've dropped some of the weakest teams from their 2024 schedule - Medgar Evers (who they beat 8-0), Penn State Berks (who they beat 7-0), and Penn State Brandywine (who they beat 5-3).  They also dropped Immaculata and Moravian.  In their place, they've added St. Mary's of Maryland and Salisbury away on opening weekend, Lycoming, Gwynedd Mercy, Stockton, and Misericordia.

[Kuiper]

Centenary (TX)

They start by hosting Texas College (NAIA team with a 3-13 record last year) and Dallas Christian (an NCCAA team) and also add Lyon and Hardin-Simmons.  Drops Piedmont, Mississippi University for Women, UT-Dallas, and Ouachita Bpatist.

Messiah

Someone posted the press release with the schedule highlights, but it's now been posted in full on the website.  Big changes are hosting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps instead of Cal Lutheran, playing Lynchburg away instead of hosting Carthage and playing Dickinson away instead of at home.  They do get Mary Washington at home this year.

[Kuiper]

Middlebury

Middlebury had a pretty strong non-conference schedule (for a NESCAC school) last season.  This one might not have a highly ranked opponent, but the schedule may be more exciting with two highlight matchups against Liberty League powers.  They drop Norwich, Keene State, Endicott, and Babson and add St. Lawrence, Thomas, and Vassar.  Vassar is a particularly interesting opponent after losing to Middlebury 2-1 at Middlebury in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament last season.  St. Lawrence is another really interesting matchup.  I think the last time the two schools played each other was in 2006, when the Saints beat Middlebury at Middlebury 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  I'm sure there are some SLU alums who remember that one.  I don't know when the two teams last played each other in the regular season, though.  It would be pretty cool if this became a regular thing.

[Kuiper]

Some SCIAC schedules dropped

Pomona-Pitzer

With a new head coach - Clint Moore from DII Colorado School of Mines - for the first time since 1986, P-P opens with a game at DII Cal State San Marcos (which ended the 2024 season with a 13 game winless streak, but beat Moore's Colorado School of Mines team last season) and hosts NAIA side Park University (AZ) (which lost to Cal Tech 1-0 last season).  It then travels to Oregon and plays Willamette and Linfield.   Conference play is unforgiving.  Instead of starting with La Verne, Whittier, and Cal Tech like last season, P-P starts SCIAC play this season with Redlands, Cal Lutheran, Occidental, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Cal Lutheran

After traveling last season to Eastern PA to play Messiah and Gettysburg and then to South Texas to play Trinity and Southwestern, Cal Lu would have been forgiven if they played a more low key schedule this season, but that's not the case.  The Administration must have increased support to the Cal Lu soccer program after the women won the nat'l championship.  This year, following a game at Soka (NAIA), they travel to Colorado Springs to play Colorado College and Whitman and then play at Masters (NAIA) (which also scrimmages Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and plays at Occidental this season).  In the SCIAC, they play Redlands and Occidental twice, including ending the regular season away at those two places.

[Kuiper]

University of Chicago

As they try to recover from probably the worst Chicago season in years (according to their standards), they drop North Central and Calvin and add Milwaukee School of Engineering and Albion.  With the Maroons starting the season away at Gustavus Adolphus and St. Olaf and still playing other NCAA tournament teams like North Park, Hope, and Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and the normal tough UAA schedule, Chicago doesn't have any easy pathways back to the Tournament.

[Kuiper]

Pacific Lutheran

The Lutes don't get to play a lot of non-conference games because of the Northwest Conference's double round robin format, but they've seemed to make the most of it in recent years.  They travel to Minnesota on opening weekend and take on St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus.  The following weekend, they host Wheaton (IL) and UC Santa Cruz in Tacoma before starting conference play.  These will all be big test for PLU as I'm assuming they've lost of ton of Pacific Lutheran Hall of Fame-type players, including GK Nicholas Gaston, midfielder Craig Johnson, forward Trevor Thompson (NWC offensive player of the year), and defender Cole Dobson (NWC defensive player of the year)

Hamilton

Exactly the same non-conference teams as last season.  They start away at Oswego State and then host Middlebury and Williams, which should provide a good indication of whether they have advanced since last year.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Middlebury

Middlebury had a pretty strong non-conference schedule (for a NESCAC school) last season.  This one might not have a highly ranked opponent, but the schedule may be more exciting with two highlight matchups against Liberty League powers.  They drop Norwich, Keene State, Endicott, and Babson and add St. Lawrence, Thomas, and Vassar.  Vassar is a particularly interesting opponent after losing to Middlebury 2-1 at Middlebury in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament last season.  St. Lawrence is another really interesting matchup.  I think the last time the two schools played each other was in 2006, when the Saints beat Middlebury at Middlebury 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  I'm sure there are some SLU alums who remember that one.  I don't know when the two teams last played each other in the regular season, though.  It would be pretty cool if this became a regular thing.

Plus they play 9 home games (all of the non-league games plus 5 NESCAC) and only 5 away.  That is nice for any team.

[Kuiper]

Centre

Centre has been slowly rebuilding the program after a NCAA tournament appearance in 2021 was followed by a 2-12-2 season in 2022.  Last season, they finished 11-4-3, with some signature wins, such as over Denison, but suffered a disappointing loss to Rhodes on a goal in the 102nd minute in 2OT of the SAA semifinals.  This year, they will be making the push to take the next step and make it back to the Tournament.  They drop Franklin, Wilmington, Elmhurst, Berea, Roanoke, and Piedmont and host Illinois Wesleyan (at Louisville) and Nebraska Wesleyan, take a road trip to North Carolina to play Brevard and Warren Wilson, and host Covenant, while also taking a few tough road trips to play teams they faced last year at DePauw and at Denison.  In the SAA, they travel to San Antonio to play Trinity, but host Southwestern the following Saturday, which is odd because Centre has Friday/Sunday weekends for other conference games.

Washington College (MD)

Drops Lebanon Valley, Elizabethtown, Kings, and Rowan and adds Roanoke, Moravian, Mary Washington, Stockton, and Eastern.  The three game week of @Stockton (Tues), @Dickinson (Sat), and @Franklin & Marshall (Tues) seems particularly tough, especially early in conference play.

[Kuiper]

Trinity (TX)

Trinity always uses its central location and great reputation to craft an interesting schedule.  This year is no exception.  Opening weekend includes a must-see game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the reprise of their rivalry with former SCAC foe St. Thomas.  The following weekend, they host Kalamazoo and former SCAC foe Schreiner and then have an away game at Texas Lutheran and a home game against Concordia (TX).  They then travel to Abilene to take on Hardin-Simmons from the ASC and Christopher Newport before coming home to host UC Santa Cruz and then beginning SAA play with a trip to Atlanta.  Really crazy that they can play teams from California, Michigan, and Virginia without even leaving Texas.  They also host Mary Hardin-Baylor at the end of conference play.  So, they basically play all of those teams from different parts of the country and most of the best teams from the SCAC (except Colorado College) and ASC without getting on a plane until they start SAA play.  11 of their games are at home and only 6 are away.  Plus, the SAA championships are in Georgetown, Texas at Southwestern this year. 

Incidentally, I'm guessing Paul McGinlay invited Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as a homecoming of sorts for Edward Cartee, his former long-time assistant, who started at CMS in 2023 after spending a decade at Trinity.  McGinlay may also have invited St. Thomas because St. Thomas' head coach is Ernesto Ramirez, who was an assistant coach at Occidental when Edward Cartee first came to CMS and the two likely crossed paths many times on the recruiting and coaching trail. I'm assuming CMS will play St. Thomas while they are both in San Antonio, which will add extra spice to that game. 

[SierraFD3soccer]

Washington College (MD)

Drops Lebanon Valley, Elizabethtown, Kings, and Rowan and adds Roanoke, Moravian, Mary Washington, Stockton, and Eastern.  The three game week of @Stockton (Tues), @Dickinson (Sat), and @Franklin & Marshall (Tues) seems particularly tough, especially early in conference play.

They also play two tournaments two weekends in a row. First Friday/Sunday and the next Saturday and Sunday which are against Salisbury and St. Marys (so sort of a mini Maryland Tournament with Lynchburg being the out of stater). Knock on WC was that the nonconference was not very strong, but this year it is harder with UMW and the others.

As to the Tuesday, Sat and then Tues. Most if not all Cent. Conf games are always Wednesday/Sat. However, the second Tuesday is because Yom Kippur starts Wednesday night.

Should be a really interesting year for WC. After making the NCAAs semis and losing 1-0 to St. Olafs, they had a real tough time at the end of the season which could have been injury related. They also lose 12 5th year and seniors this year who were the core of the NCAA run, but have 11 Sophomores. Anything could happen.

[Caz Bombers]

Vassar swaps in Cortland, NYU and Middlebury while dropping Brandeis and Drew. Tough schedule.

https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025