2015 Siena Soccer Schedule

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- Siena Soccer Head Coach Cesar Markovic has announced his program's 2015 schedule. The Saints will play a total of 18 regular season matches this fall, including seven dates at Siena Turf Field.

"We have set up what we feel to be an incredibly challenging and interesting schedule," said Markovic, who is set to enter his third season as head coach. "The amount of road games against perennial powers will put our talented group of returners and promising crop of newcomers to the test."

The Saints kick off the program's 42nd season on Fri., Aug. 28 against Big Ten foe Rutgers at 5:30 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J. Siena's home opener is scheduled against Hartford on Tue., Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. and the Saints will also host New Hampshire (Sept. 5) in non-conference action at Siena Turf Field. Siena is coming off the program's first-ever undefeated home season after posting an unblemished 6-0-2 mark at Siena Turf Field last fall.

However six of the Saints' eight non-conference games will be contested on the road. Siena concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule with a season-long five-game road trip beginning at defending Patriot League Regular Season Champion Boston University Sept. 8. BU was nationally ranked in the Top-25 of the NSCAA Coaches' Poll for most of last season and finished 2014 ranked first in the Northeast in the NSCAA Regional Rankings. Siena beat the then 23rd ranked Terriers 1-0 last Sept. 3 in Loudonville.

The Saints' challenging two-week long road trip ends with non-conference matches at La Salle (Sept. 12), St. John's (Sept. 15), Binghamton (Sept. 19) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Sept. 22).

Siena opens the program's 27th season of MAAC competition with back-to-back home matches against Manhattan (Sept. 26) and Niagara (Sept. 30) at Siena Turf Field. The Saints will also welcome Rider (Oct. 10), Iona (Oct. 17) and Quinnipiac (Oct. 28) to Loudonville for conference clashes.

On the road, Siena faces defending MAAC Tournament Champion Monmouth (Oct. 3), Canisius (Oct. 7), Fairfield (Oct. 14), Marist (Oct. 21) and Saint Peter's (Oct. 28) in conference play.

The 2015 MAAC Men's Soccer Championships return to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Nov. 5-9. As in the past when the conference championships are held in Florida, all 11 league teams will automatically qualify for the MAAC Tournament this fall.

"In a unique year such as this (with the MAAC Tournament being held in Florida), we think the challenge of travel and playing in non-familiar surroundings with our 11 road games throughout the regular season will help prepare us well for the MAAC Championships," explained Markovic.

The Saints welcome five newcomers to the 2015 squad in addition to returning nine starters and six of their top-seven scorers from last year's team which posted a 10-8-2 overall record and finished 5-3-2 in the MAAC to secure the No. 5 seed in the conference championships. The 10 victories were tied for the second most in program history and the Saints built off that momentum this spring in posting an undefeated 2-0-3 record against Division I opponents, which included a signature 2-1 victory at Syracuse which was ranked No. 1 nationally for consecutive weeks last fall and advanced to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament.