GOSHEN, Ind. — A year after the Goshen College men's soccer team joined the world in watching its season get cut short by COVID-19, the Maple Leafs have a full 18-game slate planned for the fall of 2021, with the slate announced Thursday by the Maple Leaf athletic department and head coach Victor Newberg.

The world's favorite sport returns to the John Ingold Athletic Complex on Tuesday, Aug. 10, when GC scrimmages Ancilla College. The regular season begins eight days later on Wednesday, Aug. 18, at Brescia University in northern Kentucky before the Maple Leafs play their regular-season home opener at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 8, against Cornerstone.

Seven home games await Goshen this fall, with five of them coming in the gauntlet of Crossroads League competition over the last half of the season. The league lid-lifter is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 25, when Goshen renews a nearly 50-year-old rivalry with the Wildcats of Indiana Wesleyan University. In a slight departure from normal, that game will kick off at 5 p.m. EDT to allow players and spectators to attend the Kick-Off show hosted by GC's Campus Activities Council later that evening.

More traditional rivalries dot the conference schedule, including an Oct. 9 visit to Bethel University for the U.S. Highway 20 Cup. Last year's match produced a thrilling 4-4 tie. In almost 1,000 Maple Leaf men's soccer matches, it was the first contest with that exact score and the first time since 1979 that a game produced at least four goals for each team.

Goshen's other local rivalries come later in the season — Grace College visits on Wednesday, Oct. 13, and Huntington University is the visiting school for Senior Day on Saturday, Oct. 30. Each of those matchups have been played every year since 1969, while the Saint Francis match on Saturday, Oct. 2, in Fort Wayne will mark the 56th time in 58 years that the Maple Leafs have met the Cougars (formerly Troubadors).

The team will get two chances to prove its mettle against teams in the 2020 NAIA postseason coaches poll: Grace received votes and finished in the de facto 30th position after winning the National Christian College Athletic Association title, while Spring Arbor carries the number-19 ranking into the Oct. 27 showdown at GC.

On a record-keeping front, the Aug. 21 match at Indiana University East will mark the 1,000th regular-season or postseason match in program history. The team needs 5 wins to reach 550, a milestone that has only been achieved by four other NAIA schools.

The regular season ends on October 30, with the top eight teams in the Crossroads League advancing to the tournament which begins a week later. The NAIA opening round is set for November 18-20 with the final site running November 30 through December 6 in Irvine, California.

Stay tuned to GoLeafs.net for the latest developments in Goshen College athletics throughout the summer.

2021 Goshen College Men's Soccer Schedule – By The Numbers
Matches: 18 (7 home, 11 away)
Days: 74 (regular season – Aug. 18 to Oct. 30)
Conference matches: 9 (5 home, 4 away)
Non-conference matches: 9 (2 home, 7 away)

Fastest turnaround between games: 4 days (7 times)
Longest break between games: 6 days off (4 times)

Streaks:
5 straight matches away from home (start of season, Aug. 18-Sept. 4)
24 straight days without a home match (Aug. 15-Sept. 6), then 17 days (Sept. 26-Oct. 12) later in the season
3 sets of back-to-back home matches (Sept. 8-11, Oct. 13-16, Oct. 27-30) plus a set of back-to-back scrimmages (Aug. 10-14)
Season ends with 9 straight conference matches (Sept. 25-Oct. 30) including 7 straight in Indiana (Oct. 2-30)

States visited: 5 (Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio)
Opponents' home states: 5 (same)

First-time opponents: Brescia, Michigan-Dearborn
Playing for the first time in 10+ seasons: None
The tradition continues: 53rd consecutive season (and 54th in the last 55) playing Grace and Huntington; 56th season in the last 58 playing Saint Francis

Goshen College Men's Soccer – 2021 Schedule
Tuesday, Aug. 10 — vs. Ancilla, 7 p.m. (scrimmage)
Saturday, Aug. 14 — vs. Concordia, 7 p.m. (scrimmage)
Wednesday, Aug. 18 — at Brescia (Ky.), 2 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 21 — at IU East, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 28 — at St. Francis (Ill.), TBA
Wednesday, Sept. 1 — at Michigan-Dearborn, TBA
Saturday, Sept. 4 — at Madonna (Mich.), 2 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 8 — vs. Cornerstone (Mich.), 4 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 11 — vs. Siena Heights (Mich.), 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 15 — at Lourdes, TBA
Saturday, Sept. 18 — at Lawrence Tech (Mich.), TBA
*Saturday, Sept. 25 — vs. Indiana Wesleyan, 5 p.m.
*Wednesday, Sept. 29 — at Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), 7 p.m.
*Saturday, Oct. 2 — at Saint Francis (Ind.), 7 p.m.
*Saturday, Oct. 9 — at Bethel, 7 p.m. (U.S. Highway 20 Cup)
*Wednesday, Oct. 13 — vs. (RV) Grace, 7 p.m.
*Saturday, Oct. 16 — vs. Taylor, 7 p.m.
*Saturday, Oct. 23 — at Marian, 7 p.m.
*Wednesday, Oct. 27 — vs. #19 Spring Arbor, 7 p.m.
*Saturday, Oct. 30 — vs. Huntington, 7 p.m.
Asterisks denote Crossroads League matches.