MAAC Men's Soccer, Field Hockey, Volleyball To Open
MAAC Sports
EDISON, NJ – This weekend will prove to be a busy one for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference as men’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball teams representing the MAAC will see their first action of the season Aug. 30-Sept. 2.
Eight men’s soccer teams representing the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will begin action in the 2013 NCAA season on Friday, August 30. Two more MAAC teams will see their first action on September 1, and one more will open its campaign on September 2.
Headlining the opening weekend of action is Monmouth’s visit to North Carolina, on Friday. The Hawks, the narrow preseason pick by the MAAC coaches to the win the MAAC title in 2013, will take on the No. 4 ranked Tar Heels at 7 p.m. This will be Monmouth’s first action as a member of the MAAC, having joined the league on July 1.
Two MAAC teams will open the season on the west coast on Friday. Iona, which was picked to finish second in the MAAC Coaches’ Preseason Poll, will face UC Riverside at 10 p.m., while Marist will play at UC Irvine at 10. Iona and Marist will both be in action two days later, flipping opponents, with Iona taking on UC Irvine at 3 p.m., and Marist facing UC Riverside at 5 p.m.
The No. 3 preseason pick, Fairfield, will travel to Hartwick on Friday for a 7 p.m. contest, while No. 4 preseason choice Niagara, the MAAC tournament defending champion, will host Vermont at 7 p.m. Leading the Purple Eagles will be Roberto Fernandez-Andersson, who was the Coaches’ choice as preseason player of the year.
Two 4 p.m. starts will get the MAAC men’s soccer season officially underway on Friday. Quinnipiac will play at Providence at 4 p.m., while Saint Peter’s will host Temple at 4. One more night game closes out the opening night of action, when Canisius plays at Bucknell at 7 p.m..
Two more MAAC teams see their first action on Sunday, September 1, when Rider entertains Robert Morris at 1 p.m., and Siena travels to Sacred Heart for a 2 p.m. kickoff. Manhattan is the final MAAC squad to see its initial action when it plays at Army on Labor Day, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
There will also be a full slate of action with MAAC volleyball teams opening play in tournaments throughout the country, with the first day of action Friday, August 30. Quinnipiac will face Houston in the first round of the Delta Zeta Texas State Classic in San Marcos, TX.; Niagara will take on Temple and Buffalo on the first day of play in the University at Buffalo Invitational; the host Golden Griffs will face Eastern Michigan and North Carolina State in the first day of the Canisius Tournament; Manhattan takes on UMass-Lowell in the opening round of the Holy Cross Crusader Classic; Marist will face Toledo and Eastern Illinois in the Toledo Volleyball Invitational; Rider takes on Nicholls State in the first day of action in the Tulane Tournament; and Fairfield, the preseason pick to win MAAC volleyball in 2013, faces Northern Iowa in the opening day of the Utah Classic.
All but one of the the seven MAAC field hockey teams will open the season on the road, with six of them seeing action on Friday, August 30. Bryant is the lone MAAC team to open at home, when it faces Albany. Road games include Monmouth at Northeastern; Quinnipiac facing Syracuse at the Asics Invitational hosted by Hofstra; Robert Morris at Central Michigan; Sacred Heart at Towson, and Rider, picked as the preseason favorite in a poll of the league’s coaches, is at Colgate. Siena doesn’t play until travels to Holy Cross on Sept. 1.