Men's Soccer Announces 2004 Schedule
Oregon State men's soccer coach Dana Taylor announced a 20-game regular season schedule for 2004 that includes the inaugural Stephen Hensor/Joe Zaher Memorial Tournament.
The Hensor/Zaher tournament, held Sept. 17-19, features home matchups against California-Davis and Rhode Island, a NCAA tournament team in 2003. OSU beat URI in a wild 4-3 double-overtime match in Kingston, R.I., last year.
Hensor and Zaher were members of the OSU soccer team who passed away in 2002.
OSU plays nine games against 2003 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including two matches each with Pacific-10 Conference foes UCLA, California and Washington.
The Beavers open the season against former OSU assistant Steve Simmons' Northern Illinois squad on Aug. 28.
OSU will play six road games before its home opener against Gonzaga on Sept. 15, including contests against defending national champion Indiana and Notre Dame, which advanced to the round of 16 in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, at the Hoosier Classic Sept. 3-4. OSU has not opened the season at home since 1994 when the Beavers beat Seattle 2-0.
The Beavers open conference play on Oct. 1 at UCLA; OSU's Pac-10 home opener is Oct. 8 against Stanford.
The Pac-10 schedule has been reduced to eight games this year due to the loss of Fresno State's program to a lack of funding. OSU will play UCLA, Stanford, California and Washington in home and away contests.
OSU hosts the sixth-annual Diadora/Clif Bar Challenge Sept. 24-26, taking on St. Bonaventure and Cornell.
The first round of the NCAA Tournament is Nov. 20.
