EVANSVILLE, IN – The University of Southern Indiana men's soccer team kicks off the 2011 campaign at NCAA Division II sixth-ranked West Virginia Wesleyan College Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) in Buckhannon, West Virginia. The USI-WVWC match-up is the first of a three-match road swing to start the Screaming Eagles' regular season.

 

The middle game of the road trip is Sunday at 11 a.m. (CDT) when USI plays Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, before closing the trip September 9 at 5:30 p.m. (CDT) versus Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. USI's match at Bellarmine is the Eagles' 2011 GLVC-opener.

 

USI is entering its third season under Head Coach Mat Santoro. Santoro has led USI to a 15-18-1 overall record in his first two seasons and has a 2011 squad that boasts eight juniors and 12 sophomores.

 

Leading the way for USI into 2011 is junior forward Austin Andrekus (St. Charles, Illinois). Andrekus is USI's top returning scorer with 13 points on six goals and one assist in his debut season with the Eagles.

 

WVWC is coming off a 16-7-2 overall record and a run to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Bobcats were knocked out of the tournament by eventual national champion Northern Kentucky University.

 

USI trails the all-time series with WVWC, 0-2-0. The Bobcats won the last meeting with the Eagles in the 1998 USI Classic, 3-0, at Strassweg Field.

 

Davis & Elkins finished the 2010 campaign with a 7-8-2 mark and lost in the first round of the WVIAC Tournament to Wheeling Jesuit University last November. The Senators and the Eagles are tied in the all-time series, 2-2-0, but USI won the last two meetings in 1996 and 1998.

 

NOTE: Following the GLVC-opener with Bellarmine on September 9, the Eagles are scheduled to kick off the 2011 home schedule September 11 against preseason top-ranked Northern Kentucky at Strassweg Field.