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By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Smack dab in the middle of summer, the promise of another Tennessee Tech soccer season sits a mere stone's throw away. As August will soon come into focus, the Golden Eagles and new head coach Corey Boyd have announced the club's upcoming fall schedule.

19 regular-season affairs, an exhibition home contest, nine Ohio Valley Conference clashes and a slew of sturdy non-conference competition are all in the cards for the purple and gold in 2024.

The two-time reigning OVC regular-season champion Golden Eagles kick it all off with an Aug. 4 exhibition match against Mercer at Tech Soccer Field. Including the match with Mercer, the Golden Eagles are slated to play 10 times in Cookeville and admission to all of them at Tech Soccer Field is free of charge.

The regular season officially begins on the road behind a battle at Samford on Aug. 15 in the first of 10 non-conference contests.

"We are excited about this schedule and the challenges it presents for us," first-year TTU head coach Corey Boyd said. "I think [former head coach] Steve [Springthorpe] did a great job in helping finish it up as it lends itself well in terms of getting us ready for Ohio Valley Conference play as well as sets us up nicely from a travel perspective. It is certainly a difficult schedule with a lot of tough non-conference opponents, but if you look at the last two years, we have played difficult schedules and know the impact that it has had on our success once conference play rolled around."

The season opener at Samford features a matchup against one of six non-conference opponents that possessed double digit wins in 2023. In fact, Tech's non-conference ledger showcases a 95-61-38 combined overall record from last year and includes two clubs that won at least one match in the NCAA Tournament.

The Golden Eagles will close out the month of August with an Aug. 29 meeting at Mississippi State, a Sweet 16 participant in 2023, before opening up September with a Sept. 1 get-together with Columbia, who made it to the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament following a win over Rutgers in the opening round.

"We felt as a staff that having this kind of a non-conference schedule has translated well for us over the years so we are looking forward at the prospects of a similar slate this season," Boyd said. "There are a number of strong teams on here that will give us a variety of different looks. Our hope with a schedule like this is once we get into OVC play tactically we will be in a much stronger position to handle what the league throws at us as well as have some of our younger players gain a further understanding of where we need to be at that point of the year."

Tech's tussle with Columbia represents one of three first-time opponents the Golden Eagles will see in 2024. TTU's first homestand of the season will watch the purple and gold lock up in a pair of first-time encounters with the Golden Eagles hosting Miami (Ohio) in the Cookeville opener on Aug. 18 before taking on Saint Mary's for the first time on Aug. 22. The Gaels are coming off a 10-5-3 mark in 2023.

Familiar in-state connections are also a part of the mix as Tech will renew its rivalry at Middle Tennessee on Aug. 25 in addition to traveling to Chattanooga on Sept. 5 and hosting Belmont in the final non-conference home match on Sept. 12. The battle with the Bruins wraps up a two-match homestand that will feature a meeting with South Alabama on Sept. 8, following a season that saw the Jaguars go undefeated over their first 19 matches (16-0-3) before falling for the only time in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals.

Tech will put the finishing touches on its non-conference campaign with a Sept. 15 affair at Furman in the third and final regular-season match with a Southern Conference foe (Samford on Aug. 15, Chattanooga on Sept. 5).

A week later the Golden Eagles will open OVC action behind a Sept. 22 tilt at Little Rock before hosting SEMO in the conference opener on Sept. 26 in the club's only league match at home in the month of September. TTU will close out the month with an in-state showdown at UT Martin on Sept. 29.

Tech will play six conference contests in the month of October, with clashes in Cookeville against the defending OVC Tournament champion Morehead State on Oct. 3, SIUE on Oct. 13 and Lindenwood in the regular-season finale on Oct. 27. The Golden Eagles will have road tests at Southern Indiana on Oct. 6, Eastern Illinois on Oct. 17 and Western Illinois on Oct. 20.

"When you look at what we will face in the OVC, one of the first things that jumps out is that it's a challenging conference in a number of different ways," Boyd claimed. "We have learned that there is no such thing as an easy game in the OVC. I think even if you look at some of the younger teams from last year, we know that they will only be better and will be tough opponents for us this season."

The OVC Tournament is set to get underway with first-round action on Oct. 31. Second-round matches are scheduled for Nov. 3. The semifinals are slated for Nov. 7 and the championship match will take place on Nov. 10.

The Golden Eagles hosted the semifinals and championship match in each of the last two seasons for the only two times in program history.