Air Force Releases 2008 Men's Soccer Schedule
7/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
July 10, 2008
Complete Schedule in PDF Format 
Three teams that advanced to the 2007 NCAA Tournament, including Sweet 16 team and 2006 national champion UC Santa Barbara, highlight the Air Force Academy's 2008 men's soccer schedule, released today by head coach Doug Hill. In addition, the Falcons will play both of its service-academy rivals Army and Navy for the second consecutive season at the Birmingham Southern Fall Classic. The regular season begins on Friday, Aug. 29 against UCSB in Santa Barbara, Calif.
"We are very excited to have such a strong schedule this fall, especially playing teams that are NCAA Tournament tested," said Hill, who will enter his second season as head coach. "We are also excited to play Army and Navy again in the same season."
Following the UCSB game, the Falcons will travel to Cal Poly on Sunday, Aug. 29. After home games against Loyola Chicago (Sept. 7) and Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 12), Air Force will travel to Denver for a neutral site game against San Diego State on Sunday, Sept. 14.
A weekend in Birmingham, Ala., has the Falcons taking on its service-academy rivals in the BSC Fall Classic. Air Force will face Navy on Friday, Sept. 19 and Army on Sunday, Sept. 21. Another trip to California to play UC Davis on Saturday, Sept. 27 wraps up the non-conference schedule. UC Davis fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season to eventual runner-up Ohio State.
The Falcons open their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation slate with three consecutive home games beginning on Friday, Oct. 3 against UNLV. On Sunday, Oct. 5, defending MPSF champion New Mexico visits Cadet Soccer Stadium, while in-state rival Denver comes to town on Saturday, Oct. 11.
"As always, all of our MPSF opponents will be very tough," Hill said. "We always have great games against those teams and I expect the same this season."
This will be the final year the MPSF will employ a home-and-home schedule with all six teams this season as Seattle University and Cal State Bakersfield will join the conference in 2009. The regular-season champion will receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Tournament, which begins on Friday, Nov. 21.
Air Force, which finished 5-12-1 overall and 3-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation last season, finished tied for fifth in the league and returns five starters from the 2007 team.
