Feb. 11, 2004
SAN DIEGO -
Complete 2004 SDSU Soccer Schedule
San Diego State head soccer coach Lev Kirshner has released the 2004 schedule, which includes four opponents that competed in last season's NCAA tournament. The schedule's biggest change is in MPSF conference competition where the Aztecs will play each league foe twice in the regular season, both home and away.
SDSU begins the season with a friend against 2002 national champion UCLA, who also advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2003 NCAA tournament before falling to eventual champion Indiana.
The regular season kicks off with SDSU hosting UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 1, a team that advanced to the third round of last season's national tournament. The Aztecs then hit the road to visit another NCAA tournament team in Cal-Berkeley on Sept. 4.
"We are excited to have some new teams on our schedule that have outstanding programs and who will prepare us for the postseason," said Kirshner. "Improving our schedule each year and by playing teams like Cal and UCSB shows how SDSU soccer continues to develop."
The Aztecs begin MPSF action at UNLV on Sept. 22, which begins a four-game road trip. SDSU returns home to host the adidas/SDSU Soccer Classic on October 8-10 with Air Force, Denver, and UC Davis rounding out this year's field. Other MPSF foes include 2003 champion San Jose State, New Mexico, and Sacramento State.
With the expanded conference schedule the MPSF tournament has been eliminated, giving the conference regular season champion the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins on Nov. 19.
"The round-robin conference schedule will give us a true champion as it will show who has the best team in our league," said Kirsher. "Overall, we are very pleased with our schedule with great opponents from top to bottom, and are ready to make a run to the NCAA tournament in 2004."