Erie, Pa—The Mercyhurst Men's Soccer team will be back on the pitch for a their first full schedule since 2019 when they went 10-6-2. The 2020 fall season was canceled to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mercyhurst played a six game exhibition schedule in the spring and finished 6-0.
The Lakers will open their season on September 2nd at 2 PM as they will host West Liberty in their first of four non-conference games. Eight days later the Lakers will lace up their boots for their second non-conference game as they will take on District of Columbia. Mercyhurst will then host Salem on September 18th in their third non-conference game, the Green and White will close out the non-conference schedule on October 12th as they will host Le Moyne.
Mercyhurst will play 10 PSAC games facing Gannon, UPJ, Cal (Pa), Seton Hill, and Slippery Rock each twice. PSAC play will start on September 29th as the Lakers will head on the road to take on Seton Hill. The first PSAC home game will be on October 2nd as the UPJ Mountain Cats will make the trip to Erie.
The regular season will conclude on November 6th as the Lakers will host the Cal (Pa) Vulcans. PSAC playoffs will start on November 9th as the top three teams from both the east and west will make the postseason.
Head Coach Ryan Osborne will enter his first full season as the manager of the Lakers after being hired in January 2020. The Lakers will return 31 players from last season while they are bringing in 14 freshman and four transfers including two graduate transfers.
Osborne is excited to get on the pitch "We are very excited to get back to competing and we look forward to challenging for championships this fall. We are eager and determined to build on a positive spring 2020 season and hope that our new recruits can settle in quickly and add to our team. We enter the season with a lot of optimism and positivity and we will be working hard to ensure that we are ready to go from minute one."
The Lakers will also play three preseason contests, the first being against Division I Canisius on August 21st, Mercyhurst will then played Notre Dame College on August 24th, and Lake Erie College on August 28th. The developmental team will also play 10 games this season as they will play Gannon, Lake Erie, Seton Hill, Notre Dame, and John Carroll.
