App Men's Soccer announced their 2015 schedule today and they are also hosting the 2015 Sun Belt Tournament.

Article:
http://www.appstatesports.com/ViewArtic ... =210052106

Schedule:
http://www.appstatesports.com/SportSele ... EASON=2015

App State Men's Soccer Finalizes 2015 Schedule
Courtesy: Appalachian State Sports Information

BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University men’s soccer head coach Matt Nelson announced the team’s schedule for the upcoming 2015 season on Monday. The program is entering its second season in the Sun Belt Conference.

“We are excited about the schedule for this upcoming fall season,” said Nelson. “We have strong non-conference opponents that blend well with our conference schedule to prepare us to advance past the semifinals of this year’s tournament. We are always looking to improve and this year is no different – we will aim for a Sun Belt title on our field come November.”

The Mountaineers will open with two exhibition games against familiar opponents. App State will play former Southern Conference foe Wofford on Sunday, Aug. 16 in Spartanburg, S.C. with a 5 p.m. kick off.

The last preseason game for the Apps is a home date with familiar foe High Point on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. from Appalachian Soccer Stadium.

Appalachian kicks off the regular season in Jacksonville, Fla. on Friday, Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. against North Florida. They will finish the weekend on Sunday, Aug. 30 against Jacksonville at 12 p.m. The Mountaineers defeated the Dolphins last season in Boone 2-1.

The home opener for the Mountaineers is set for Wednesday, Sept. 9 against nearby East Tennessee State with a kick off slated for 7 p.m. App State is 7-1 in eight all-time meetings against the Buccaneers with the last game coming in 2013 – a 2-1 double overtime thrilling win in Johnson City.

App State will hit the road to Nashville, Tennessee for two games beginning on Friday, Sept. 11 against Belmont with a contest against Lipscomb coming on Sunday, Sept. 13. The Mountaineers played both opponents in the 2013 season and came away with two draws.

They will return home for one game on Tuesday, Sept. 15 against Longwood at 6 p.m. The Mountaineers defeated Longwood last season in Farmville, Va. highlighted by a two-goal performance from Stephen Chapman.

The Apps will hit the road for four-straight road games, concluding with their first conference game. App State will play at Radford on Friday, Sept. 18, at Winthrop on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Presbyterian on Tuesday, Sept. 29 and they finish at Georgia State on Saturday, Oct. 3. All game times are slated for 7 p.m.

Last season, App State fell to Radford in a narrow 1-0 loss in overtime. The Mountaineers dominated Presbyterian 4-0 and lost to Georgia State 1-0 in OT last season. Appalachian last played Winthrop in 2011 – winning 3-0. They own a 9-4-2 all-time record against the Eagles.

The team will return home for three-straight home dates against UNC Asheville on Tuesday, Oct. 6, Sun Belt conference opponent Howard on Saturday, Oct. 10 and USC Upstate on Friday, Oct. 19. All times are currently set for 7 p.m.

In 2014, the men defeated Upstate 3-1 in Spartanburg, while tying conference foe Howard in Washington, D.C. 2-2. The last time they faced UNCA in the regular season it was a 5-0 shutout in Boone during the 2013 campaign.

App State will then travel for two road dates, one at ACC foe NC State on Monday, Oct. 19 and then down to Georgia Southern for a conference match on Saturday, Oct. 24 – both times set for 7 p.m. The men fell to the Eagles last year in Boone by a score of 1-0.

On Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, the Mountaineers will host the team that knocked them out of the Sun Belt semifinals of last year’s tournament. The Hartwick Hawks will trek to Boone for a 7 p.m. showdown. Then on Tuesday, Nov. 3 the Apps will host Bowling Green at 3 p.m. App State is 0-0-1 against Bowling Green with the last match occurring in 2010.

The season finale is set for Saturday, Nov. 7 at NJIT for a 7 p.m. kick off – just five days before the Mountaineers are set to host this year’s 2015 Sun Belt Conference men’s soccer tournament from Appalachian Soccer Stadium. The tournament is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12 through Sunday, Nov. 15.

Glad to see the schedule posted, but am disappointed to see another weak schedule. It's is going to be very difficult to earn a decent RPI with only two top 60 RPI teams on the schedule. I guess we have to start somewhere and maybe we can run the table and win the conference for an automatic bid.

1977–1980 Appalachian State Mountaineers
Happy Belated Birthday,
Thompson Usiyan (born 27 April 1956) is a retired Nigerian football (soccer) player. He holds the NCAA Division I career scoring record

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2009/Div1.pdf

Thompson's NCAA D1 soccer scoring records are going to be difficult to beat. No wonder they still stand some35 years later. Career goals (109) and season goals (46) are going to be mighty hard to touch.

BTW, App MSOC holds the team record for most consecutive conference wins (35), during 1977-1982. Those were the good old days for sure, when conference championships were a given and our biggest concern was how far up the top 20 national rankings we might climb.

I agree doublea that the scheduling could have been better. Nelson could have scheduled higher caliber teams to get ready for conference play. NC State looks to be the best team but they even had a bad season last year. They didn't finish high in the conference and didn't make the NCAA Tournament. We will have to wait and see how playing a lighter schedule effects the team when they start conference play.

There was some news generated in the Men's Soccer team during the spring season. I am surprised that the news wasn't announced by the AD. Coach Nelson's contract was up and was only renewed for one year. Assistant Coach Bilyk was given a raise and was made Associate Head Coach. Could this be a sign that Coach Nelson better win the Conference and Conference Tournament this fall? If not, this could be his last year at App.

I am not into character assassination but from what I have heard, there have been issues between the players and head coach for the past few seasons that are relevant to this situation. Professionalism, the use of injured players and lack of technical knowledge of the game and no input from players or Asst Coaches are just a few. The lack of technical knowledge mentioned by the players I think refers to Nelson playing a goalie in college and a goalie coach. Not having a coach that is familiar in attacking experience can pose a problem. This could be the reason why the Men's Soccer Team have underperformed the last few years and not put up a lot of goals. You can see this from the overall win loss and conference win loss when Coach Nelson took over after Coach Pendleton. Overall record 28-25-21. Conference 7-11-7. Finished last in the conference the last two years.

I have been watching App play soccer for many years. These players are not any different from the players that played last year, five years ago or even 20 years ago. There are some very good players on this team. I can tell when the players and coach are not on the same page. After watching them play this spring, they are not on the same page. Things need to change this fall or we could be embarrassed at the conference tournament hosted by App.