2009 Schedule (in pdf)
The University of Detroit Mercy men's soccer team has released its 2009 schedule, which includes four opponents which played in post-season in 2008 and six games that will be played at Titan Field.
"We have a tough schedule for the upcoming season," said head coach
Morris Lupenec. "The first six games are going to be played on the road, which will end up laying the foundation for the season, as well as prepare us for Horizon League play."
The Titans start the 2009 campaign at IUPUI (Sept. 1) and will then face IPFW five days later. Detroit will head west to Spokane, WA, to participate in Gonzaga's tournament where the Titans will face Oregon State and the host school, Gonzaga.
Outside of conference play, other road games for Detroit include Michigan, Xavier, Bowling Green and Oakland, which ended 2008 as the Summit League regular season champion.
The Titans open up the Horizon League slate at home on Sept. 25 against Valparaiso and UDM's first conference road game is at Green Bay on Oct. 2.
"The Horizon League is extremely competitive every year," added Lupenec. "Every conference game is going to be even more important this year due to the tournament shrinking to a six-team format. There is a premium on every league contest; we cannot afford to make any mistakes in conference competition this season."
The five other teams that UDM will host in 2009 are Valparaiso, Oral Roberts, Wright State, Western Michigan and Loyola, and the Titans will wrap up the regular season against UIC (Nov. 7). Loyola captured the 2008 Horizon League Championship, while UIC advanced to the round of 16 in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.
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