Penn men’s and women’s soccer have released their 2013 schedules, so now we know when and how often the Quakers will get to enjoy their new Rhodes Field playing surface.
The men will have more of a home field advantage than usual. While the Quakers haven’t hosted more than eight games each of the last two seasons, Penn will enjoy 11 home games as opposed to just six road games in 2013.
Rudy Fuller’s squad will open its season on Sept. 6 hosting Stony Brook before taking a Golden State trip that will see the Quakers playing California Polytechnic State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Perhaps the increased number of home games will help Fuller’s squad bounce back after a disappointing 3-13 season, but playing at Rhodes didn’t give the Quakers any distinct advantage last year, as they went 1-7 at home.
Still, the Red and Blue understand that last year featured a lot of close games that could have easily went the other way, and with such a youthful squad, roadblocks could only be expected.
Penn will definitely have grown after last year, but this year’s schedule may be more difficult than any other one in recent memory.
Five of the games the Quakers will play are against NCAA tournament teams, including last year’s national runner-up, Georgetown.
Meanwhile, the women will play nine of their 17 matches at home, kicking off their slate with three consecutive games at Rhodes Field.
Last year, the women finished the year 9-6-1 and went into the last game of the season with an opportunity to take a share of the Ivy League title.
After a disappointing loss to Princeton at the Tigers’ home, Penn will look to gain valuable experience in its early nonconference schedule to set the team up for those tight games that will naturally occur in the Ivy slate.
In the Red and Blue’s first true road trip, they will face off against Old Dominion for the first time since 1996 on Friday, Sept. 20 and then play William and Mary that Sunday for the third time ever.
Penn has numerous nonconference games slipped within the contests against the Ancient Eight.
Two days after facing off against Harvard in Cambridge on Sept. 27, the Lady Quakers face off against Lehigh at home. The following weekend, after taking on Cornell at home, Fairleigh Dickinson will come down to Rhodes that Sunday.
Overall, the women will look to be in contention yet again.
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