June 30, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB men's soccer head coach Mike Getman announced the team's 2009 schedule on Tuesday. The schedule will feature 10 home games, including two exhibition contests, and the Blazers will square off against five opponents who appeared in last year's NCAA Tournament.

"This is going to be a very demanding and challenging schedule for our team," Getman said. "We play a number of teams who are ranked nationally or coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. We also have a number of talented teams coming to our place, so it will be good for our fans."

The Blazers will open their 2009 home slate with back-to-back exhibition contests against Clemson on Aug. 22 and Belmont on Aug. 25.

Following the final exhibition game at Georgia State on Aug. 28, UAB will jump into regular-season action by opening the season with four of its first five games against 2008 NCAA Tournament participants.

For the first time in nine seasons, the Blazers will open the regular season slate at the friendly confines of West Campus Field. The last season UAB opened at home was the 2000 campaign, when the College of Charleston visited Birmingham. Additionally, the Blazers will play four of their first five games on their home pitch.

This season, Oakland University, which made an appearance at the 2008 NCAA Tournament, will travel to Birmingham to take on the Blazers on Sept. 1 at 2 p.m. in the regular-season opener for both teams. Following that contest, UAB will play its only road game in the first five matches when it takes on UIC (Sept. 4), which advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2008.

The Blazers will then return home to begin a season-long, three-game home stand on Sept. 7 against Centenary. After the game against the Gents, UAB will host the 12th annual UAB "Soccer For A Cure" Classic. This year's event should be one of the most exciting in recent memory, as the Blazers welcome UMKC and Drake, who both made last year's NCAA Tournament, along with C-USA rival Memphis. This year's Classic will be held on Friday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, Sept. 13.

Following the UAB Classic, the Blazers will then embark on a five-match road trip beginning with back-to-back tournaments in the Memphis Diadora Classic (Sept. 18-20) and the SMU Classic (Sept. 25-27). UAB will square off against Central Arkansas (Sept. 11) and Vermont (Sept. 25) in Memphis and SMU (Sept. 25) and Houston Baptist (Sept. 27) in Dallas. The final non-conference tilt will be played at Alabama A&M (Nov. 1).

Along with SMU, the Blazers will have road Conference USA contests at Kentucky (Oct. 4), at Tulsa (Oct. 17) and at Marshall (Nov. 7). UAB will host conference rivals FIU (Oct. 10), Memphis (Oct. 14), UCF (Oct. 24) and South Carolina (Oct. 28).

The 2009 Conference USA Tournament will be held in Memphis, Tenn. on Nov. 11-15.