ETSU Men’s Soccer announces 2023 schedule

Published 9:12 am Wednesday, June 21, 2023

 JOHNSON CITY – The ETSU men’s soccer team will host North Carolina, while playing road matches at Kentucky and Virginia as head coach David Lilly announced the Buccaneers’ 2023 schedule on Tuesday.

ETSU, who will face five teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season, plays 11 matches at Summers-Taylor Stadium and eight road contests this fall.

Following its annual Blue & Gold game on Friday, Aug. 11, ETSU will play a pair of friendlies to tune up for regular season play. The Bucs’ first exhibition game will be played at Longwood on Tuesday, Aug. 15, while ETSU hosts Elon on Friday, Aug. 18. The Blue & Gold defeated Elon in a friendly last season as the Phoenix then went on and made the NCAA Tournament before falling to 2021 National Champion Marshall in the first round.

The Bucs will open the 2023 season at home under the lights when ETSU takes on Georgia Southern Thursday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. This will mark the second all-time meeting between the two programs with ETSU claiming the first match, 2-1, back on Sept. 22, 2018 in Statesboro.

ETSU will be tested in its first true road match of the season as the Bucs travel to Lexington to take on Kentucky. The match will be played Monday, Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Last season, the Wildcats earned the overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament as they captured the Sun Belt Conference Championship. Kentucky went 15-1-5 (5-0-3 Sun Belt) before falling to Pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament. ETSU has defeated the Wildcats twice in program history – winning 1-0 in 2013 and 3-1 in 2015.

For the second time in program history, ETSU will host ACC power North Carolina at Summers-Taylor Stadium. The Bucs will take on the Tar Heels on Friday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. The last time UNC came to Johnson City was back on Oct. 30, 2010, while ETSU defeated the top-ranked Tar Heels, 1-0, on Sept. 13, 2016 in Chapel Hill. UNC made its 29th NCAA Tournament appearance last season.

The UNC match marks the first of five September home games for the Blue & Gold. Following its match with UNC, ETSU will wrap up a brief two-game home stand as the Bucs take on USC Upstate on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The Spartans went 4-1-3 to finish third in the Big South last season.

ETSU will then host Radford a week later (Sept. 12), while taking on UNC Asheville the following Tuesday (Sept. 19) before opening SoCon play with Wofford on Saturday, Sept. 30.

ETSU will play three road matches in the month of September, finishing with a trip to Charlottesville to face Virginia on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Virginia, who has won seven NCAA National Championships, made its 42nd trip to the NCAA Tournament a year ago as the Cavaliers were the No. 4 overall seed. This will mark the first all-time meeting between ETSU and Virginia.

Prior to ending in Charlottesville, the Bucs will play at UNC Wilmington on Saturday, Sept. 9 and at Presbyterian one week later (Sept. 16). ETSU and UNCW have never met on the pitch, while the Bucs are 2-1-1 all-time against the Blue Hose.

After opening SoCon play at home with Wofford, the Bucs will also host reigning SoCon champion and nationally-ranked UNCG on Friday, Oct. 6, while ending the season with Mercer on Saturday, Oct. 28. UNCG advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament a year ago after knocking off Ohio State and No. 5 seed Stanford in its first two postseason matches. The Spartans finished the season ranked No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll.

The Blue & Gold will make trips to VMI (Oct. 14) and Furman (Oct. 21) in conference play. Last year, the Bucs defeated Furman at home, 1-0, while taking down VMI for the 15th straight time, 3-0.

ETSU’s final two non-conference matches in October feature a pair of opponents from the Big South Conference. The Bucs will play at Gardner-Webb on Tuesday, Oct. 10, while hosting Winthrop on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

The SoCon Tournament will begin with the quarterfinals on Nov. 3, followed by the semifinals on Nov. 5. The top two seeds host the quarterfinals and semifinals, while the championship will be held the weekend of Nov. 11-12 at the highest remaining seed. The winner of the conference tournament receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.