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Marquette men's soccer finished last season with a Big East Blue Division title, but without an appearance in the NCAA tournament. With today's announcement of the 2012 schedule from the athletic department, the route to take a step forward is now laid out.
Marquette will start their season off with three exhibition matches before starting the regular season against Milwaukee on August 24th as the first half of a co-ed doubleheader with the Panthers. The non-conference portion of the schedule features both Big Ten schools from the state of Michigan and the defending Summit League champions. The Big East schedule features an interesting twist to end the season. Marquette and Notre Dame will play twice in four days, once in South Bend and once in Milwaukee. The home-and-home series is the scheduling solution to the departure of West Virginia from the conference. Overall, there are six teams who appeared in the 2011 NCAA tournament on the Golden Eagles' schedule this year.
Hit the jump and we'll lay out the lineup!
All times are Central and all home games are at Valley Fields
Friday, August 10: Fan Fest at 4pm, Blue vs Gold scrimmage at 6:30pm
Saturday, August 11: Alumni Game, 7:05pm
Sunday, August 12: vs Loyola-Chicago (exhibition), 7:05pm
Friday, August 17: vs Xavier (exhibition at Fort Wayne, IN), 6pm
Sunday, August 19: at Wright State (exhibition), 11am
Friday, August 24: vs Milwaukee (doubleheader with women's soccer vs Milwaukee), 6pm
Sunday, August 26: at UW-Green Bay, 3pm
Friday, August 31: vs Illinois-Chicago, 7:05pm
Sunday, September 2: at Drake, 2pm
Saturday, September 8: vs Western Illinois, 7:05pm
Friday, September 14: vs Michigan, 7:05pm
Sunday, September 16: at Michigan State, 1:30pm
Saturday, September 22: vs DePaul, 7:05pm
Wednesday, September 26: vs Wisconsin, 7:05pm
Saturday, September 29: at Providence, noon
Saturday, October 6: vs Connecticut, 7:05pm
Tuesday, October 9: vs Northern Illinois, 7:05pm
Saturday, October 13: at Georgetown, noon
Wednesday, October 17: at Pittsburgh, 6pm
Saturday, October 20: vs Seton Hall, 1:05pm
Wednesday, October 24: at Notre Dame, 6pm
Saturday, October 27: vs Notre Dame, 7:05pm (Senior Night)