Thursday, June 28, 2001

FIU Men’s Soccer to play ambitious fall schedule

• 2001 FIU Men's Soccer Schedule

  photo by Geoff Anderson FIU Head Soccer Coach Karl Kremser announced his team's schedule Thursday that includes eight teams who participated in last season's NCAA Tournament. The Golden Panthers have eyes on a second-straight Atlantic Soccer Conference championship that would result in an automatic bid into post-season competition.

egular-season meetings against eight programs that appeared in post-season competition last year plus a full slate of Atlantic Soccer Conference opponents highlight the Florida International University 19-match men’s soccer fall schedule.

The Golden Panthers open the campaign in Tampa, Fla. against the University of South Florida on Sunday, Sept. 2, and then, over the next two weekends, play at tournaments featuring four teams that ended the 2000 season ranked among the nation’s top 20.

FIU takes on Clemson (Sept. 7) and host Furman (Sept. 9) at the Umbro-Spinx Tournament in Greenville, S.C., and then meets Stanford (Sept. 14) and St. Louis (Sept. 16) at the SMU Nike Classic in Dallas, Tex. The team finally plays its first home match of the year versus another NCAA team of a year ago, IUPUI, on Friday, Sept. 21.

“I venture to say that this is probably the most difficult stretch to start a season being played anywhere in the country,” said FIU Head Coach Karl Kremser. “It’s difficult, but it’s also a tremendous opportunity. If we can come out of these matches successfully, we can position ourselves extremely well in the South Region, which is one of the more difficult and premier regions in the country.”

FIU will defend its league championship when it begins its second season in the seven-school Atlantic Soccer Conference on Friday, Oct. 5 on the road against Oneonta (NY) State.

The Golden Panthers also host three in-season home tournaments at their University Park playing facility. The first, Sept. 21-23 features IUPUI and Marshall. A week later, FIU plays its Umbro Classic against nationally-recognized Santa Clara (Sept. 28) and James Madison (Sept. 30). The final tourney, Oct. 26-28, includes Michigan and Kentucky.

The regular season ends at home against top-10 power South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 17.

“This shapes up to be a great schedule,” said Kremser. “We like it that way because it either brings out the best in our kids or the worst. It will either show our strengths or expose our weaknesses. But we feel confident. We have a good group of individuals coming in. We’re coming off a very good spring. Now, we’ll see if it all translates into success on the field.

“The beauty this year is that in the past, our schedule would have been do or die. Now, it serves as preparation for our conference schedule and hopefully a return to the NCAA Tournament.”

For season ticket information, call the FIU Athletic Box Office toll free at (866) FIU-GAME.