CBU Men's Soccer Announces the 2024 Season Schedule
7/17/2024 12:00:00 PM | Men's Soccer
RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University men's soccer has released its upcoming 2024 schedule, full of top-tier challengers. The season is home-heavy as 10 of the 17 matches scheduled will take place in the friendly confines of the CBU Soccer Stadium. The two-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Lancers have a very challenging schedule awaiting them in the 2024 season. The strength of the schedule reflects the success that Head Coach Coe Michaelson and his squad have achieved and the respect they have earned over the past two seasons as CBU has made noise on the national level.
The Lancers finished the 2023 season with an RPI rating of 60 out of 211 programs in Division I, ahead of 12 of the 17 scheduled opponents for the upcoming 2024 season. The slate begins with a pair of road contests for a second-straight season, with Opening Day taking place on the East Coast against American University on Thursday, August 22. A major clash against surely the first of a few nationally ranked opponents in the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill will follow that match. The Tar Heels closed out 2024 as the sixth-ranked team in the NCAA and an 11-4-7 record before dropping a 1-0 decision to Oregon State in the third round of the NCAA playoffs.
CBU returns home to begin a challenging four-game homestand, which opens with a bout against former WAC foe CSU Bakersfield on Saturday, August 31. The first game of September will take place on the 6th and is a rematch against the Mountaineers of West Virginia. WVU topped the NCAA rankings at No. 3 at the end of last season and took the only previous meeting between the two programs 3-0 in Morgantown last season. After that, a midweek clash against CSUN will provide plenty of entertainment for Lancer fans on September 11.
The University of San Diego comes to Riverside to close out the home stretch on Monday, September 16, after the two teams met twice at Torero Stadium last season. The programs split the two contests, with the Lancers claiming the bigger prize and defeating USD in the second game, the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, 1-1 (3-2 PK's) to claim the program's first NCAA postseason win.
A quick trip to Los Angeles to take on Loyola Marymount awaits the Lancers on September 20. The Lions posted one of their most impressive seasons in recent history, closing out 2023 ranked 11th in the NCAA with a 10-5-6 record, including a 2-2 draw against the Lancers in Riverside. CBU will then return to Riverside for the Crosstown Showdown against UC Riverside on September 25. The Lancers own a 2-0-1 record in the previous three Riverside Derby's. The match against the Highlanders will conclude the non-conference slate for the men, a stretch of contests that will see the Lancers face four top-34 RPI teams from a season ago, unquestionably the strongest sequence CBU has faced in the DI era.
WAC play begins on the road in October as CBU heads to Utah Tech and UNLV on the 3rd and 6th, respectively. The Lancers have dominated the all-time series against the Trailblazers, 11-2-1 since 2011, winning five of the six Division I meetings by multiple goals. The Rebels will seek revenge in Las Vegas after the Lancers claimed the WAC Tournament crown on their home field a season ago, 2-1.
Conference home play begins on October 12 against the newest affiliate member of the WAC, San Diego State. The Aztecs join the WAC after the recent disbanding of the Pac-12 conference left them without a home league. SDSU started last season hotter than anyone, going unbeaten in their opening seven games and refusing to allow an opposing goal for 651 minutes to start the year.
San Jose State (October 17) and reigning WAC regular season champions Seattle U (October 20) will wrap up the conference-opening three-game home stand for CBU before they hit the road once more to take on Grand Canyon (October 24) and UTRGV (October 27). The Lancers' regular season will close out at home with a pair of league matches against Air Force (October 31) and Utah Valley (November 3), the latter of which will act as Senior Day for CBU.
Grand Canyon is set to host the conference tournament November 10-16, in their final season as a member of the WAC before they set off for the West Coast Conference in the 2025-26 season. The Lopes were the first team left out from last season's tournament, as only the top six teams qualify for the event. CBU became the first team to win back-to-back WAC Tournaments with their 2-1 victory over host UNLV last November and look to extend that streak into a three-peat this season and continue their streak of making the NCAA Postseason. The National Tournament begins on November 21 and will culminate in the College Cup Final on December 16 in Cary, North Carolina.
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