Soccer Reveals 2017 Schedule

MUNCIE, Ind. -- Coming off back-to-back MAC regular season championships, the Ball State soccer team has announced its schedule for the 2017 campaign.

The Cardinals will play nine home games at the Briner Sports Complex, starting with an Aug. 11 exhibition against Oakland. The regular season opens one week later against Fort Wayne.

Ball State reached an all-time high of No. 40 in the RPI last year and finished the season at No. 52. This year's non-conference schedule is highlighted by road games against three other teams that finished in the top 70. Ball State will visit Notre Dame (No. 16) on Aug. 20 and will venture to TCU (No. 43) and Baylor (No. 68) on a trip to Texas the first weekend of September.

The non-conference slate also includes home games against Appalachian State and Western Illinois plus road games at Xavier and IUPUI.

"The 2017 schedule will pit us against a selection of opponents that will provide us with many different challenges," Ball State coach Craig Roberts said. "Each opponent has a unique style of play along with a variety of different systems. Facing higher ranked opponents earlier in the season than we have faced in past will be beneficial in our preparation for our conference games."

Ball State will close out the non-conference slate with its Senior Night game Sept. 15 against Western Illinois and will then go on the road to open MAC play a week later at Bowling Green.

The Cardinals will play six of their 11 conference games on the road, also visiting Toledo, Western Michigan, Buffalo, Akron and Miami.

Their five league home games (versus Ohio, Kent State, Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan) will come in a 17-day stretch from late September through mid-October.

Ball State will close out the regular season Oct. 26 at Miami, the opponent against whom the Cardinals have clinched the regular season championship in each of the past two seasons.

The MAC Tournament begins with quarterfinal games Oct. 29. The semifinals and finals will be played the first weekend of November.

"We are very excited to meet each challenge as it comes at us," Roberts said. "We will learn from every opponent and make positive steps to enhance our performance as we go through the season. We have accomplished several accolades over the past seasons, but our focus is on what is next not what is behind us."

Ball State University Athletics

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