Men's Soccer Reveals 2022 Schedule
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's soccer team and fifth-year head coach Paul Wright have announced the schedule for the upcoming 2022 season. Highlighting the Blue Jays' 16-game regular-season slate are 10 home matches which are set to be played on the USJ Soccer Field on the campus of USJ.
FULL 2022 MEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE
The men's soccer program stays close to home in the month of September as it opens the 2022 season playing seven of its first eight games in West Hartford, including the first six to start the year. The Blue Jays officially lift the lid on the 2022 campaign on Thursday, September 1 versus North Atlantic Conference foe SUNY Poly at 6:00 p.m. on the USJ Soccer Field. It will mark the first meeting between the Blue Jays and Wildcats in program history.
USJ then hosts the Framingham State University Rams of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference for a non-conference fixture under the lights on Saturday, September 3 at 7:00 p.m. That sets the table for the Blue Jays' 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener the following weekend where they will host Elms College on Saturday, September 10.
Saint Joseph continues its homestand with a midweek non-conference matchup with the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs of the Little East Conference on Wednesday, September 14. The Blue Jays and Corsairs played to a 0-0 double overtime draw last year on Cressy Field in Dartmouth, Mass.
The Blue Jays then get back to GNAC play with home matches versus Colby-Sawyer on Saturday, September 17 and intrastate rival Albertus Magnus on Wednesday, September 21 to wrap up their six-game homestand to start the year. USJ will then hit the road for the first time on Saturday, September 24 with a GNAC match at Regis. Rounding out the month of September, Saint Joseph returns home for its final non-conference match on the 2022 docket and hosts Fisher College on Wednesday, September 28.
When the calendar flips over to October, men's soccer starts the second half of the season with its longest road trip of the season against one of the toughest opponents in the conference in Saint Joseph's College of Maine. The Monks, who have won four of the last five GNAC titles, and Blue Jays are set to square off on Saturday, October 1 in Standish, Maine. That match is followed by another road game for the Blue Jays on Wednesday, October 5 at Dean College.
USJ then returns home for a contest versus Lasell University on Saturday, October 8 before heading back on the road and making a trip up to Boston to take on Emmanuel College on Wednesday, October 12.
The final four games on the 2022 schedule feature two at home and two on the road. The first two are against quality opponents in Norwich University and Johnson & Wales University, who have both finished in the top-three spots in the GNAC standings since the Blue Jays entered the league in 2018. USJ first hosts Norwich on Saturday, October 15 before traveling to Johnson & Wales on Wednesday, October 19.
Wrapping up the regular-season slate, the Blue Jays make a trip to Rivier University on Saturday, October 22 before hosting Anna Maria College on Wednesday, October 26 for their regular-season finale ahead of the GNAC Tournament.
The top-eight teams in the league standings advance to the 2022 GNAC Tournament, which is set to begin with the quarterfinal round on Saturday, October 29, with the top-four seeds serving as hosts. The semifinals will be held on Wednesday, November 2 by the remaining two highest seeds, followed by the championship match on Saturday, November 5 by the highest remaining seed.
The Blue Jays finished fifth in the regular-season standings at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign and earned a berth to the postseason tournament for the third consecutive year in as many tries since starting the program in 2018 (2020 season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). They earned the fifth seed and went on the road and defeated fourth-seeded Albertus Magnus, 4-0, in the quarterfinals before falling to top-seeded and eventual champion Saint Joseph's College of Maine, 3-1, in the semifinals.
Admission to all USJ regular-season men's soccer games in 2022 is free of charge. Fans who cannot make it to matches in person can watch all of the action live and on demand by visiting https://portal.stretchinternet.com/usj/.
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