NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A trip to perennial national contender Akron is one of the highlights of a challenging 2021 schedule for the defending Ivy League champion Yale men's soccer team. Four of Yale's non-league games will come against teams that finished in the top-50 in the final 2020-21 RPI rankings, including the Zips, who came in at No. 39.
 
"We have been waiting a very long time for this and are thrilled to get back to competing," said Kyle Stannard, the 5K Corral Head Coach of the Bulldogs who was named the 2019 Ivy League Coach of the Year. "It will be nearly two years since we put on our game jerseys and so this will only make us appreciate it that much more, the great opportunity we have to represent Yale.  We take a lot of pride in playing a very competitive schedule and this season will be a bigger challenge than ever as defending Ivy League champions and not having competed in the spring like our non-conference opponents.  We embrace this challenge and have no doubts the other Ivy League programs are as excited and motivated as we are."   
 
The game with Akron on Sept. 25 will be the first meeting between the schools. The Zips have won 214 games since 2007, the most of any school in all of Division I soccer. Akron captured the 2018 and 2010 NCAA Championships and advanced to the national championship game in 2009.  The 2010 title was the first national championship in school history for any sport.
 
The Bulldogs will get another very strong test when they travel to New Hampshire on Oct. 12. The Wildcats were fourth in the final RPI ranking, captured the America East Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The 2021 season kicks off on Sept. 3 at Fairfield, who was No. 48 in the RPI. On Labor Day, the Bulldogs travel to Villanova to meet the Wildcats for the first time.
 
Yale's home opener at Reese Stadium is slated for Sept. 11 against UMass Lowell. After that, it's back on the road and a short trip to Storrs, Conn., to face UConn on Sept. 14. Yale knocked off the Huskies 3-0 in New Haven in the last meeting between the teams in 2019.
 
The Bulldogs face two other New England rivals - Boston College on Sept. 21 and UMass on Sept. 28. Yale's last meeting with BC came in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Minutemen finished No. 31 in the final RPI and played in the NCAA Tournament in the spring.
 
The other non-league opponents are Hartford (Oct. 5 in West Hartford, Conn.) and Stony Brook (Oct. 19 on Long Island).
 
Ivy League play begins on Oct. 2 at home against Harvard. Four of Yale's seven Ivy games are in the friendly confines of Reese Stadium. In addition to the Crimson, the Bulldogs host Dartmouth (Oct. 9), Cornell (Oct. 16) and Brown (Nov. 6)
 
The regular season wraps up on Nov. 13 at Princeton.
 
Yale had a memorable 2019 season. The Bulldogs captured their first outright Ivy League title since 1991, matched the school record with 13 victories and earned the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005.

• Complete 2021 Yale Men's Soccer Schedule