Click here to view complete 2018 schedule

By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Smack dab in the peak of the summer, the prospects of another Tennessee Tech soccer season are not too far off in the horizon. Inching closer and closer to the start of a brand new year, the Golden Eagles and TTU head coach Steve Springthorpe have announced the 2018 fall schedule, an offseason signal that promises the purple and gold on the pitch in that not too distant future.

18 regular season matches and a pair of exhibition tilts are on the docket for the Golden Eagles, a slate that features its fair share of sturdy competition and intrigue over the course of three months. Both exhibition clashes as well as nine regular season contests will take place at Tech Soccer Field, including a duo of deadlocks against SEC competition as Vanderbilt makes its way to Cookeville for an exhibition on Aug. 5 and Tennessee will come to town on Sept. 9.

"When we built this schedule I wanted our team to be challenged and I certainly wanted the opportunity to play teams in the non-conference that would prepare us for the conference schedule," Tech head coach Steve Springthorpe said. "Like most schedules every year there are certain games that we kind of seem to play over and over against teams we traditionally play and like to play. A lot of them are from this area whether they are from the state or regionally. We've also added some teams where we are challenging ourselves, like a Tennessee coming in here. Overall I'm happy with how the schedule turned out."

After TTU's clash with Vanderbilt and Tech's exhibition tilt with Chattanooga at home on Aug. 12, the Golden Eagles will hit the road for the first two of the regular season. Tech's opening weekend will see the Golden Eagles at Georgia State on Aug. 17, before scooting to Nashville to tangle with Lipscomb on Aug. 19.

The following weekend Tech will officially unwrap its home regular season action with an Aug. 24 meeting against ETSU at 7 p.m. CT and a matchup with North Alabama on Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. The back-to-back night matches is a common theme on this year's calendar with eight of the nine scheduled home contests under the lights.

"I think a lot of programs are trying to play as much at night as possible and we are no different," Springthorpe noted. "You can get out of the heat of the day and then specifically if you are playing local teams, why not try to set the games up for later where it's cooler and the potential for a larger crowd is there. Also with a lot of games on Fridays, playing at night gives you more time after classes to rest and get prepared for the game. As you look through the schedule, you'll see that we tried to play under the lights as much as possible, especially when it came to 'local' teams."

The Golden Eagles will bridge the gap from August to September with the club's furthest road swing of the season, playing at Evansville on Aug. 31 and at Purdue Fort Wayne on Sept. 2 for the last two non-conference road games of the year. Although a distant trip in terms of miles, the briefness of only two in a row on the road is a staple on this year's slate. Tech does not have a period of three straight away from Cookeville at any point during the regular season.

"We've worked really hard to make sure that there are no long road stretches for us throughout the year," Springthorpe acknowledged. "Ever since our first season here back in 2014 when we had eight in a row on the road and were gone for an entire month, we wanted to make sure that we didn't run into something along those lines again. We always try to block off certain dates or weekends that we know we can play at home and this schedule shows that."

TTU's longest home stretch of the year will connect the conclusion of non-conference action with the opening of Ohio Valley Conference play. A trio of tilts in Cookeville is set to begin on Sept. 7 against Troy at 7 p.m., promptly followed by the Sept. 9 match against the University of Tennessee at 6 p.m. The Golden Eagles will then kick off OVC action the following weekend against Jacksonville State on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m.

TTU's matchup with the Vols will mark only the third occurrence in program history in which a team from the Southeastern Conference has come to Cookeville for a regular season meeting and first since Tech's 2-1 win over Alabama on Aug. 30, 2015 for the program's first ever victory against an SEC school.

"We actually went to Tennessee a couple of years ago to play in a spring exhibition and their coach was looking for a game this fall and we needed a home game so it just kind of worked out," Springthorpe said. "Obviously to get a team like Tennessee to come here should bring a lot of excitement. I think they realize our team has been competitive over the last few years and so they decided to come play us, which is great. We have an evening kickoff for that match and I hope just like the Alabama game a few years ago that a lot of fans come out and it's a great crowd."

Tech's match with Jacksonville State on Sept. 14 will be the first of 10 OVC contests. The Golden Eagles are on the road against Austin Peay (Sept. 16), UT Martin (Sept. 21), Murray State (Sept. 28), Morehead State (Oct. 12) and EKU (Oct. 14). As far as the OVC home slate is concerned, Tech will lock up in Cookeville with Belmont (Sept. 23), SEMO (Oct. 5), SIUE (Oct. 19) and EIU (Oct. 21). The contests with SIUE and EIU are the last two matches of the regular season and having them at home is a factor that Springthorpe isn't necessarily overlooking.

"It's great to finish at home for a couple of different reasons," the fifth-year TTU head coach said. "It can be vital to finish at home if you are in the playoff hunt for a bid to the conference tournament. If you look at the last couple of years within our conference it seems to come down to that last weekend, whether it is to decide who is going to finish first or second or who is even making it into the tournament. Getting the chance to play at home during the last couple of games can be a huge advantage and it sets itself up that way for us. There are of course no guarantees, but our team has played well on our pitch over the last few years."

Tennessee Tech is a combined 13-1-2 at home over the last two seasons.

In its second season under a new-look format with the inclusion of eight teams in the postseason field, the OVC Tournament will feature four rounds of action. The top two teams will earn a double-bye and advance straight to the semifinals, hosted by the No. 1 seed and regular season champion. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will earn single-bye and host a second-round match, while the No. 5-8 seeds will lock up in first round contests.

The first round is scheduled for Oct. 26 and the second round will take place on Oct. 28. The semifinals are set for Nov. 2 and the championship match is on Nov. 4.

The Golden Eagles are coming off a historical 2017 campaign that featured a program record for fewest losses in a season with only five defeats all year. Tech's eight goals allowed, only five of which came in regulation, surpassed the 2016 school record of 13 goals surrendered. TTU finished in second place in the regular season and advanced to the OVC Tournament semifinals for the third consecutive season.