Full Schedule

Champaign, Ill. – Fighting Illini Soccer and head coach Janet Rayfield announced the slate for the 2016 season, which will be the 20th season of the Illinois soccer program. The Illini will matchup against several top-25 opponents in addition to facing a challenging non-conference road schedule.

"We are excited for the 20th season of Illinois Soccer and this slate of regional opponents," Rayfield said. "We are excited to travel to new environments and face-off against top-25 opponents in order to to prepare this team to reach the goals that that have set for themselves and to help us prepare for competition at the highest level." 

Illinois will open the season against first-time opponent Morehead State on Friday, August 19. The Eagles are coming off of a 9-11-2 season in 2015 that saw the squad advance to the semifinal round of the OVC Tournament.  The Orange and Blue will continue the weekend hosting the Illinois State Redbirds in a 7 p.m. contest on Aug. 21. Illinois own an 8-2-2 record all time against the foes from Normal, Illinois.

The Orange and Blue will hit the road for the next two weekends, making the rounds in both Missouri and Texas. UI will travel to Mizzou for an Aug. 26 match against the Tigers in Columbia, Mo. The two teams have not met in regular season play since the 2008 season. Illinois will follow up with a contest at St. Louis on Aug. 28.  Illinois is 3-2-0 against the Billikens, earning a 3-1 victory in Champaign last season.

Next up will be a road trip to Texas for the Illini squad. UI will travel to TCU (Sept. 2) for the first time in program history before heading to College Station, Texas to face Texas A&M. The Aggies finished the 2015 season ranked at No. 21 in the country after advancing to the quarterfinal round of the 2015 NCAA Championship.

Illinois will close out the non-conference slate with a homestand against Miami (Ohio) and Evansville in early September before opening conference play on Sept. 15.

"After the variety of opponents in non-conference play, we expect to be ready to handle the grueling competition that will be present this year in the Big Ten," Rayfield said.  "The challenge in the non-conference schedule is to test yourselves, continually improve in all areas and hit the first peak of preparation heading into the Big Ten season."

The Big Ten campaign begins with a Thursday evening contest against Purdue, before welcoming Indiana on Sept. 18. The Illini are 11-7-3 against the Boilermakers and will face a Hoosier team coming off of a 3-10-6 record in the 2015 season.

The Illini then have a crucial road stretch to close out the month of September as the Orange and Blue travel to Maryland (Sept. 22) and Rutgers (Sept. 25) before facing reigning National Champion Penn State in Happy Valley on Oct. 1. Last season, the Illini hosted both Rutgers and Maryland in one of the most exciting weekends of the year. UI upset the then No. 11-ranked Scarlet Knights, recording the first goal surrendered by Rutgers on the year. Illinois continued the weekend to earn a double-overtime victory against Maryland a few days later.

Back in Champaign, Illinois will welcome Michigan (Oct. 6) and Michigan State (Oct. 9) the following weekend. Illinois boasts a 17-3-2 record over the Spartans in program history, and the Illini have won the last five meetings against Michigan State in Champaign.

UI will travel to Nebraska on Oct. 13 to face the Huskers for the seventh time in program history. Illinois is 2-0 against the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Illini will then face Iowa in Iowa City on Oct. 16.

The 2016 home slate will come to a close on Oct. 22 as the Illini welcome Wisconsin for an evening match. The two teams have not met since the 2014 season. Illinois regular season finale will take place in Evanston as Illinois takes on in-state foe Northwestern on Oct. 26.

"We face a tremendous road challenge this fall during our Big Ten campaign as we have six away games and lots of travel," Rayfield discussed. "But we know that going in, and our team understands the challenge that awaits them.  We also host a great slate of Big Ten opponents, so our fans will get to see some of the best soccer the NCAA has to offer.  We have high expectations for this senior-laden team, but they will have to grind out a grueling and challenging Big Ten schedule to reach those goals." 

Instituted prior to the 2015 season, the Big Ten Tournament will once again take place over a two-weekend span with quarterfinals being held Oct. 28-30 at campus locations. The final four seeds will then meet Nov. 4-6 at the home field of the highest remaining seed. NCAA Championship play will begin Nov. 11 and continue until Dec. 4. Game times and dates may be subject to change. 

Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest on Illinois soccer. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter (@IlliniSoccer), Instagram (@IlliniSoccer) and Facebook (/IlliniSoccer).