Hempstead, N.Y. - A home game against Big 10 power Penn State highlights the 2011 Hofstra Men's Soccer schedule, which was released today.
Penn State visits Hofstra on Tuesday, Nov. 1, the final week of the regular season. The Nittany Lions reached the Big 10 championship game last year, and then advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, where it fell 1-0 on a goal in the closing minutes of regulation to No. 2 Maryland.
Hofstra traveled to participate in Penn State's Tournament back in 2009, falling 5-1 to the Nittany Lions and 4-2 to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions will be the first Big 10 team to play at Hofstra in men's soccer (Indiana's women's soccer team played at Hofstra two years ago).
Hofstra opens the season at Hofstra Soccer Stadium on Friday, August 26 with a game against Iona at 7 p.m., the second part of a doubleheader with the women's team, which plays Fairfield at 4:30 p.m. Last year, the Pride scored twice in the closing minutes to come back for a 2-1 win at Iona, as current junior Mike Annarumma (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) and current senior Brett Carrington (St. George, Barbados) tallied goals.
Albany visits Hofstra on Monday, Aug. 29, and the Pride will not play again at home until its conference opener against UNC Wilmington on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. The Pride travels to St. Francis (N.Y.), Colgate and Cornell in the first three weeks of September.
The Pride then welcomes Fordham for a non-league game on Tuesday, Sept. 27, before the Colonial Athletic Association gets into full gear with two games a week, beginning on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Georgia State.
Hofstra's closing stretch to its schedule is particularly daunting this year, as it ends with games at Old Dominion (an NCAA qualifier last year), home against George Mason, at William & Mary (defending CAA champion), home against Penn State, and home against James Madison.
The CAA has returned to a six-team format this year (after only four teams were invited the last two years). All games will be played at the site of the highest seed, with the quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 10, the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 11 and the championship on Sunday, Nov. 13.
Hofstra was the runner-up in the CAA Tournament a year ago, as it used a late-season surge to finish third in the regular season, and then defeated second-seeded VCU in the semifinals 2-1 on a penalty kick with five seconds left in regulation, giving head coach Richard Nuttall his 200th career win. After battling top-seeded William & Mary to a 0-0 tie through the first 65 minutes, the Tribe pulled away late for a 4-0 win to capture the title.
To view the complete Hofstra Men's Soccer schedule, go to the following link:
