The Maryland men’s soccer team’s 2016 schedule includes six 2015 NCAA Tournament teams and 15 opponents who finished in the top 100 in RPI last season, the program announced Friday.
The Terps, who are the two-time defending Big Ten Tournament champions, will open their season at UCLA Aug. 26, a rematch of Maryland’s 2015 home opener when it defeated the then-No. 1 Bruins, 2-1, in overtime.
Maryland’s non-conference schedule also features games against Georgetown and South Florida, which both finished in the RPI top-18 in 2015. The Terps lost, 2-1, to the Hoyas in Washington, D.C., last season but did not face the Bulls.
Coach Sasho Cirovski’s squad will begin conference play with matches against Indiana (Sept. 9) and Rutgers (Sept. 13), two of the four Big Ten schools who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year. Maryland played a scoreless draw against the Hoosiers last season before defeating them in penalty kicks in the Big Ten Tournament, while the Terps defeated the Scarlet Knights, 3-1, in the regular-season finale.
Maryland will face Ohio State, the 2015 Big Ten regular-season champion, Oct. 7, before closing the regular season with six more contests.
The Terps fell in the third round of the NCAA Tournament last year, and after losing two regular starters in the offseason, Maryland will look to defend its Big Ten Tournament crown and win its first national championship since 2008.
