Men’s Soccer to Open 2024 Season

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Thursday that the men’s soccer team will kick off their 2024 schedule on August 25 on the road at Lindenwood University.

The match at Lindenwood will be the first of 16 regular season matches leading to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which starts on November 10 and will be hosted by Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.

Prior to the start of the regular season, the Vaqueros will host three exhibition matches in the Rio Grande Valley as they will face the IDEA Toros Football Academy on Aug. 9 at 9 a.m. at UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex, Coastal Bend College on August 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Brownsville Veterans Memorial High School, and Texas A&M International on Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.

Admission to the exhibition matches and to all home soccer matches this season are complimentary.

After the match at Lindenwood, the Vaqueros will face Texas A&M-San Antonio on Sept. 4 in their home opener that kicks off three-straight at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex as they will also host Incarnate Word on Sept. 7 and Jacksonville on Sept. 12.

“We will play two teams that won their conferences, a few teams in the NCAA Tournament,” UTRGV head coach Bryheem Hancock said. “We will be playing away for three of those matches early on. I think it gives us a good picture of different types of opponents that we’ll play throughout the conference portion of our schedule.”

UTRGV will then hit the road for three straight to face Houston Christian on Sept. 18, Oral Roberts on Sept. 21, and SMU on Sept. 29.

The Vaqueros will kick off WAC play at home against Grand Canyon on Oct. 6 before hosting Utah Valley on Oct. 10 and Air Force on Oct. 13.

“We added a team that is a top-60 RPI team into the fold of the conference that is already strong,” Hancock said. “We look forward to the challenges of these teams each year and obviously, this year we have more of our games at home for conference play and it always helps playing at home. For us, the last few years haven’t gone the way we wanted to but that is a big priority for us since last spring. We want to win this year.”

UTRGV then visits UNLV on October 17 and Utah Tech on October 20, they will host San Diego State, who returns to the WAC this season, on October 24 and reigning WAC champions California Baptist on Oct. 27 before closing out the regular season on the road at Seattle U on Oct. 31 and at San Jose State on Nov. 3.

The NCAA Tournament will start on November 21 at regional sites and wraps up with the College Cup from December 13-16 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.