CHICAGO, Ill. – The Illinois Tech men's soccer team has released its 2019-20 schedule. It features 19 total matches, 11 matches at Stuart Field, and 11 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) contests.
The 2019 season kicks off on Friday, August 30 at 7:00 p.m. at Stuart Field for Illinois Tech's home opener against Beloit College. The matchup against the Buccaneers is a re-match from last season's 1-0 Scarlet Hawks win, which featured an Oluwaseun Ogunsanya goal in the 41st minute. Beloit finished with a record of 4-13-1 a season ago.
Tech will play twice more at home to open the season. On Saturday, September 7, Tech will play under the lights once again, this time against a UW-Whitewater squad that won 13 matches a season ago. The Scarlet Hawks follow that up with a Monday night contest against Greenville on September 9.
Four more September non-conference matches will take place before NACC play begins. This four-match stretch is highlighted by a contest at nearby national powerhouse North Park (Wednesday, September 18) and Illinois Tech's homecoming match against Moody Bible Institute on Saturday, September 21 at 6:00 p.m.
The NACC slate starts out difficult for the Scarlet Hawks, as Tech will host defending NACC Tournament Champion Dominican on Wednesday, September 25 to open conference play. This date is included in a stretch where four of Tech's first five conference matches are at home, which features a home match against defending regular season champion MSOE (Saturday, October 5).
From October 12 through October 23, the Scarlet Hawks will play away from home for five consecutive matches. Four of these will be NACC affairs, with the lone non-conference tilt being on Monday, October 14 at Maranatha Baptist. Of the NACC matches, Tech will play at 2018 conference tournament qualifiers Wisconsin Lutheran (Saturday, October 12) and Concordia-Wisconsin (Saturday, October 19).
Tech's final two matches of the regular season will take place at home. The Scarlet Hawks will have its Senior Day on Saturday, October 26 at 3:30 p.m. against Rockford University. Four days later, the regular season come to a close with a 6:00 p.m. contest against Marian University.
The top six teams in the NACC will qualify for the team's postseason tournament, which determines who gets the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. This year's tournament will begin on Saturday, November 2 and go through Saturday, November 9.
In addition to the varsity contests, the Scarlet Hawks will also play four Varsity Reserve matches and two home scrimmages (August 18 against Prairie State, August 24 against Principia).
Illinois Tech is coming off of an inaugural NACC campaign in with the team went 9-9 overall and 4-7 in league play. All of Tech's home matches will include live audio, video, and stats, with the live audio being powered by Illinois Media School.