Mount Union Releases 2012 Men's Soccer Schedule

Photo by Lenny Reich

ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union soccer team will play just one home game in the first month of the upcoming 2012 season.

The Purple Raiders begin the season with a pair of games at the Capital/Fort Rapids Invitational at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. They play Emory & Henry (Va.) on August 31 at 5 p.m. and Wittenberg on September 2 at 4 p.m.

A trip to Delaware, Ohio the following weekend for the Fred Myers-adidas® Invitational will feature games against host Ohio Wesleyan and Anderson (Ind.) on September 7-8. The road trip will continue with a non-conference matchup at Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) on September 15.

Mount Union will host Waynesburg (Pa.) in its home opener at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 19. The Raiders go back on the road to conclude their non-conference slate at Allegheny (Pa.) on Wednesday, September 26.

The Ohio Athletic Conference schedule starts on Saturday, Sept. 29 with a trip to Ohio Northern, which is where the Raiders' ended their season with an OAC Tournament semifinal loss.

Marietta visits Mount Union Stadium on Tuesday, October 2, which starts a season-long three-game home stand with games Saturday, October 6 against Wilmington and Wednesday, October 10 against John Carroll.

Head coach John Witkowski led Mount Union to a 10-8-2 record a year ago as the Raiders finished fourth in the OAC (4-3-2) and won its first-ever OAC Tournament game with a 1-0 decision at Wilmington. Seven starters return, led by a trio of All-OAC performers in senior goalkeeper Jon Critell (Youngstown/Cardinal Mooney), junior forward Thomas Beck (Poland/Cardinal Mooney), and senior midfielder Leo Hicks (Leetonia/Cardinal Mooney).