A total of 10 home games including several old rivals and another tough conference slate highlight the 2019 Radford University men’s soccer schedule which head coach Bryheem Hancock revealed on Tuesday afternoon.
“The 2019 schedule is well balanced between home and away matches,” said head coach Bryheem Hancock. “It will be tough and extremely competitive for our team. My staff, along with our players, can’t wait for the challenge ahead with this schedule. With the amount of home matches we have and our great fan base, it will be an exciting atmosphere at Cupp this season.”
A trio of preseason exhibitions will help the Highlanders knock the rust off before the regular season kicks off. Louisburg College and VMI will visit Cupp Stadium on Friday, Aug. 16 and Sunday, Aug. 18 and then Radford will head to East Tennessee State for a third warm-up match on Saturday, Aug. 24.
Official play begins on Friday, Aug. 30 as former Big South foe and in-state rival Liberty makes the drive down I-81 for the season and home opener. The Highlanders then host the UNCG Spartans at Cupp Stadium on Monday, Sept. 2.
From there, the Highlanders hit the road to Wilmington, N.C. where they will play two games as part of the UNCW Springhill Suites Classic. They’ll face UNCW on Friday, Sept. 6 before taking on College of Charleston on Sunday, Sept. 8.
A quick stop home at Cupp Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14 features a match against NJIT, but then Radford gets right back on the road for three straight games. They’ll face perennial power Virginia on Tuesday, Sept. 17 and then head south to take on Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 21 and Campbell on Saturday, Sept. 28.
The month of October begins with a pair of home games against Howard on Tuesday, Oct. 1 and Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Oct. 5. The Highlanders then travel to Presbyterian for a 2018 Big South Tournament rematch on Wednesday, Oct. 9 before facing UNC Asheville on Saturday, Oct. 12.
The conference slate continues with USC Upstate in the New River Valley on Wednesday, Oct. 16, a road match at Winthrop on Saturday, Oct. 19 and two home matches against High Point and Longwood on Saturday, Oct. 26 and Wednesday, Oct. 6 respectively. One final non-conference game against Clemson is set for Tuesday, Oct. 22 in between all of that as well.
Radford returns several starters from last year’s squad which finished second in the Big South regular season standings including forward Amadou Macky Diop, Victor Valls, Thure Ilgner and Wyatt Erzen.
–RU Athletics
