WASHINGTON – The long-awaited season debut for American University men's soccer is slated for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Reeves Field against the defending Patriot League champions, Lehigh. The contest marks AU's first men's soccer game in 486 days (November 6, 2019 at Loyola Maryland).
 
QUICK INFO

• Date/Time: Saturday, March 6, 1:30 p.m.
• Site: Washington, D.C. (Reeves Field)
• Series History: AU leads, 14-8-5
• TV: ESPN+
• Talent: Marc Serber (pxp)

PLEASE FOLLOW US ONLINE ONLY; NO FANS OR SPECTATORS PERMITTED ON CAMPUS.

• Per Washington, D.C. and American University guidelines, and for the health and safety of our coaches, student-athletes and campus community, no spectators are permitted at athletics events in 2020-21.
• This policy is a stipulation of our approval to host athletic events from D.C. Department of Health and D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
• We do not anticipate a change in these guidelines this semester. Violators will be escorted from the site and jeopardize our ability to host athletic events for our student-athletes.
• All American University athletic events played on campus this spring will be streamed on ESPN+ (FAQ HERE) and can also be watched through the Patriot League's International Video Stream.
• Schedules and game updates can be found at www.AUeagles.com and our Twitter account @AUeagles.
• All scheduled events and start times are subject to change. 

INSIDE THE SERIES

• A season ago, AU battled the eventual Patriot League champion Lehigh tooth-and-nail, falling in a narrow defeat at Reeves Field, 2-1.
• The teams first faced off in 1990, when the Eagles topped the Mountain Hawks, 3-0 at Reeves Field.
• Historically, American and Lehigh have been two of the stronger programs in the Patriot League. The two have faced off in the PL Tournament six times, most recently in 2015. The Eagles are 3-1-2 in those postseason matchups. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN

• Head coach Zach Samol enters his second season at the helm of the American men's soccer program. In his inaugural campaign, he led the Eagles to a 3-5-1 mark in conference play, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Patriot League Tournament, ending up in 7th place.
• Samol welcomes 13 new faces to the program for the condensed 2020-21 spring season, his first full recruiting class at AU. The Top-50 nationally ranked class according to TopDrawerSoccer includes 10 freshman and three transfers from power conference schools (Nicolas Blassou - Kentucky, Ben Severe - Villanova, and David Coly - Washington). The newcomers complete a strong group of 31 players looking to keep rebuilding the AU program.
• Coly is an exciting forward who scored four goals for the Huskies when he last saw game action. Blassou was a key piece of two Kentucky teams that saw tremendous success, reaching the NCAA Tournament in both 2018 and 2019, advancing all the way to the Elite 8 in 2018.
• American returns its top goal-scorer from a year ago in Nick Dimitrijevic. In addition, Jerry Zouantcha is expected to see action this weekend after missing all of the 2019 season due to injury. Zouantcha was Second Team All-PL in 2018 as a sophomore after scoring four goals. Other key returners include Jake Agnew, who started 12 games for AU in his first season after transferring from Appalachian State, and Oscar McConnell, who has been a captain for the last three years. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT LEHIGH

• The returning league champions were predicted to repeat as champs in the preseason coaches poll. The 2019 PL Coach of the Year, Dean Koski, is first in PL history with 246 career wins. He enters his 29th year at Lehigh this season.
• Soccer is a family affair for Coach Koski. All four of his sons are currently a part of the program. Alec is on the coaching staff, while Blake, Trevor, and Spencer are on the roster.
• Josh Luchini returns a season removed from being named the PL Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. He scored 11 goals and five game-winning goals in 2019.
• Stevo Bednarsky joins Luchini on the preseason All-PL team. Bednarsky was First Team All-PL in 2019, as well as Second Team All-Atlantic Region as a defender.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

• With its remarkable location in Washington, D.C., American has long attracted students from all around the globe. The men's soccer program is no different. AU boasts a roster featuring seven international players from five different countries. England leads the way with three players calling it home (Dimitrijevic, McConnell, McGovern). Other countries represented on the AU roster include Bulgaria (Poelzlbauer), Cameroon (Zouantcha), Senegal (Coly), and Sweden (Sjoberg). Additionally, Al-Ameen Salako was born in Nigeria, but calls Wilmette, Ill., home. 

STAYING LOCAL

• As global of a footprint that AU Men's Soccer has produced, local roots to soccer clubs in the DMV region also run deep. Five players from the Bethesda-Rockville area have made the short trek up the road to be an Eagle. Nicolas Blassou and Ben Severe both transferred to AU to be closer to home after beginning their careers at Kentucky and Villanova, respectively. Will Manogue, Kevin Ventura, and Tomas Martini join those two as Maryland natives on the roster. Lorenzo Gordon is also not very far from his hometown of Fairfax, Va. Gordon is the only Virginia native on the squad this season. 

THE STORY ON SCHEDULING

• A six-game Patriot League-only schedule is in place and set to begin in early March. The Eagles, like all fall sports in the Patriot League and in much of the nation, did not have competition in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• AU will compete in the Patriot League South Division along with Bucknell, Lehigh, Loyola Maryland, and Navy. The North Division features Army, Boston U., Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Colgate.
• Four teams will qualify for the PL Tournament, with each division winner hosting the second-place team within its division in the semifinal round. The remaining team with the highest regular-season point total will host the championship game. 

VIRTUALLY "PHIL" REEVES FIELD PRESENTED BY GEICO

• American University Athletics has announced a new virtual ticket campaign in an effort to sell out Reeves Field for the upcoming men's soccer season. This new season-long initiative, presented by "TEAM AU" partner GEICO, will challenge Eagles fans and alumni to virtually sell out each seat at Reeves Field for the 2021 men's soccer campaign. The "AU Founder" ticket price of $18.93 commemorates the year AU was founded. Click here to support AU Athletics by buying virtual tickets. 

HOW TO WATCH ESPN+

• A subscription to ESPN+ is available for purchase via ESPN.com, ESPNPlus.com, or the ESPN App. Fans can access ESPN+ content only after they have subscribed. To subscribe, click here. It costs $5.99/month or $59.99/year.

KEEP UP WITH US

• For the latest on American University Men's Soccer, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_MSoccer), Facebook (/AU.MSoccer) and Instagram (@au.msoccer).