Chicago Men's College Soccer: Focusing on big games and the big players

The air was a little crisp in Chicago on Sunday and that means that fall is just around the corner.  With fall comes college soccer and in fact exhibition games are already underway.  Regular season games kick-off on August 26th.  The NCAA Pre-season rankings were released earlier this month.  The Chicago Fire are looking primed to grab some top talent with a top five pick in the draft.  After the break, we've got the top ten games in the Chicagoland area along with the schedules for several big schools in Chicago Fire Country.

Top Five Chicagoland Games

1. DePaul vs. #1 Louisville - Wednesday, October 26 - 12:00 PM CST - Wish Field

The pre-season #1 comes right to DePaul's Wish Field.  Chicago Fire Strength and Conditioning coach Tony Jouaux will likely be in attendance to see his old school and employer.  Hermann Trophy hopefuls Austin Berry and Colin Rolfe should take the field for the university hailing from Kentucky.  

2. DePaul University vs. #10 Creighton - Sunday, September 11 - 3:00 PM CST - Wish Field

Creighton is lead by Hermann Trophy hopefuls Tyler Polak and Ethan Finlay.  Top Drawer Soccer lists Polak and Finlay as the No. 5 and No. 14 best players in the country.  Illinoisans Greg Jordan (No. 74) and Andrew Duran (No. 97) are from Naperville and Mokena respectively and add to the Blue Jays midfield.

3. Northwestern vs. #17 Indiana University - Sunday, October 30 - 2:00 PM CST - Lakeside Field

Chicago Fire PDL and Academy fans will enjoy this matchup.  U-18 captain, occasional PDL and Fire Reserves player Peter Beasley is set to play for Northwestern.  2011 PDL leading goal scorer Chris Estridge enters his senior year for Indiana University.  Backing up Estridge will be another Fire U-18 and PDL player: Patrick Doody.  Top Drawer Soccer lists Northwestern forward Oliver Kupe at No. 86 in the country.  Indiana's Tommy Meyer is one of the best players in the Midwest at No. 22 and midfielder Harrison Petts ain't too shabby at No. 83.

4. Loyola University vs. #21 Butler - Saturday, October 1 - 7:00 PM CST - Loyola Soccer Park

Loyola University doesn't have top high rated players but the program is pretty good overall.  They will be looking to upset #21 Butler and use the home field to their advantage.

5. University of Illinois-Chicago vs. #24 UC Irvine - Sunday, September 11 - 2:00 PM CST - Flames Field

UIC doesn't have a player like alum Baggio Husidic on the team but Flames Field is located in a prime location near downtown.  #24 UC Irvine hopes that #49 Miguel Ibarra will be in top form and lead the Californian team higher up the charts.

Honorary Mention: University of Illinois-Chicago vs. DePaul University - Thursday, September 1 - 5:00 PM CST - Toyota Park

This is your big Chicago match-up taking place at the Chicago soccer palace: Toyota Park.  If you just can't get enough of Toyota Park, here's a chance to enter on the cheap and see the local teams play.  We've got the full schedules for the Division I soccer programs in Chicago below in addition to links to the colleges farther away from the capital of Chicago Fire Country.

DePaul University

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
08/14/11	at Eastern Illinois #	Charleston, Ill.	W, 1-0
08/20/11	at Western Michigan #	Kalamazoo, Mich.	T, 3-3
08/27/11	vs. Oakland	Wish Field	1:00 p.m. CT
09/01/11	vs. Illinois-Chicago	Toyota Park	5:00 p.m. CT
09/04/11	vs. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville	Wish Field	4:00 p.m. CT
09/11/11	vs. Creighton	Wish Field	3:00 p.m. CT
09/14/11	at Loyola Chicago	Chicago	7:00 p.m. CT
09/17/11	at Western Illinois	Macomb, Ill.	1:00 p.m. CT
09/21/11	at Drake	Des Moines, Iowa	7:00 p.m. CT
09/24/11	vs. Seton Hall *	Wish Field	1:00 p.m. CT
09/28/11	vs. Northwestern	Wish Field	12:00 p.m. CT
10/01/11	at Georgetown *	Washington, D.C.	12:00 p.m. CT
10/05/11	vs. Green Bay	Wish Field	3:00 p.m. CT
10/08/11	at Villanova *	Villanova, Pa.	12:00 p.m. CT
10/12/11	at USF *	Tampa, Fla.	6:30 p.m. CT
10/15/11	vs. Rutgers *	Wish Field	1:00 p.m. CT
10/19/11	at Cincinnati *	Cincinnati, Ohio	6:00 p.m. CT
10/22/11	at St. John's *	Queens, N.Y.	6:30 p.m. CT
10/26/11	vs. Louisville *	Wish Field	12:00 p.m. CT
10/29/11	vs. Syracuse *	Wish Field	1:00 p.m. CT

Loyola University

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
08/17/11	vs. Marquette (exhibition) #	Loyola Soccer Park	L, 2-0
08/23/11	at Wisconsin (exhibition) #	Madison, Wis.	4:00 p.m. CT
08/27/11	vs. Drake	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
Nike Portland Invitational
09/02/11	vs. Washington	Portland, Ore.	6:30 p.m. CT
09/04/11	at Portland	Portland, Ore.	4:30 p.m. CT
09/11/11	vs. Western Michigan	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
09/14/11	vs. DePaul	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
Bradley Classic
09/16/11	vs. Evansville	Peoria, Ill.	5:00 p.m. CT
09/18/11	at Bradley	Peoria, Ill.	2:30 p.m. CT
09/24/11	at Green Bay *	Green Bay, Wis.	7:00 p.m. CT
10/01/11	vs. Butler *	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
10/05/11	vs. Oakland	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
10/08/11	at Cleveland State *	Cleveland, Ohio	6:00 p.m. CT
10/12/11	vs. Eastern Illinois	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
10/15/11	vs. Detroit *	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
10/19/11	at Northwestern	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
10/22/11	at Wright State *	Dayton, Ohio	6:00 p.m. CT
10/26/11	vs. Valparaiso *	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT
10/29/11	at Milwaukee *	Milwaukee, Wis.	7:00 p.m. CT
11/02/11	vs. UIC *	Loyola Soccer Park	7:00 p.m. CT

Northwestern University

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time
08/14/11	at SIUE (exhib.)	Edwardsville, Ill.	L, 1-0
08/19/11	vs. Wheaton (exhib.)	Evanston, Ill.	W, 5-0
08/26/11	vs. Eastern Illinois	Evanston, Ill.	5:00 p.m. CT
09/01/11	vs. California	Bridgeview, Ill. (Toyota Park)	7:00 p.m. CT
09/05/11	vs. UMKC	Evanston, Ill.	2:00 p.m. CT
adidas/Magnuson Inn Invitational
09/09/11	vs. Portland	DeKalb, Ill.	2:30 p.m. CT
09/11/11	vs. Valparaiso	DeKalb, Ill.	1:30 p.m. CT
Lakeside Classic
09/16/11	NIU vs. Xavier	Evanston, Ill.	5:00 p.m. CT
	vs. UC Davis	Evanston, Ill.	7:30 p.m. CT
09/18/11	NIU vs. UC Davis	Evanston, Ill.	11:30 a.m. CT
09/18/11	vs. Xavier	Evanston, Ill.	2:00 p.m. CT
09/24/11	vs. Michigan State *	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
09/28/11	at DePaul	Chicago, Ill.	12:00 p.m. CT
10/01/11	vs. Missouri State	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
10/05/11	at Notre Dame	Notre Dame, Ind.	6:00 p.m. CT
10/09/11	at Ohio State *	Columbus, Ohio	1:00 p.m. CT
10/12/11	vs. Northern Illinois	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
10/16/11	at Penn State *	University Park, Pa.	1:00 p.m. CT
10/19/11	vs. Loyola Chicago	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
10/21/11	Alumni Game (exhib.)	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
10/23/11	vs. Wisconsin *	Evanston, Ill.	1:00 p.m. CT
10/30/11	vs. Indiana *	Evanston, Ill.	2:00 p.m. CT
11/05/11	at Michigan *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	4:00 p.m. CT

University of Illinois-Chicago

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
08/18/11	at Eastern Illinois (Exhibition)	Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)	W, 2-1
08/20/11	vs. Lewis (Exhibition)	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	Canceled
08/27/11	vs. Marquette	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	7:00 p.m. CT
09/01/11	vs. DePaul	Bridgeview, Ill. (Toyota Park)	5:00 p.m. CT
09/04/11	at UAB	Birmingham, Ala. (West Campus Field)	7:00 p.m. CT
09/09/11	vs. Memphis	Madison, Wis. (McClimon Complex)	5:00 p.m. CT
09/11/11	vs. UC Irvine	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	2:00 p.m. CT
09/16/11	Wisconsin vs. Drake	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	5:00 p.m. CT
Chicago South Loop Hotel UIC Soccer Classic
09/16/11	vs. SIU-Edwardsville	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	7:30 p.m. CT
09/18/11	Wisconsin vs. SIU-Edwardsville	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	11:00 a.m. CT
	vs. Drake University	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	2:00 p.m. CT
09/23/11	at Dayton	Dayton, Ohio (Baujan Field)	6:00 p.m. CT
09/27/11	at Michigan State	East Lansing, Mich. (DeMartin Soccer Complex)	3:00 p.m. CT
10/01/11	vs. Green Bay #	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	7:00 p.m. CT
10/08/11	at Butler #	Indianapolis, Ind. (Varsity Field)	6:00 p.m. CT
10/14/11	vs. Cleveland State #	FLAMES FIELD	7:00 p.m. CT
10/16/11	vs. Nebraska-Omaha	FLAMES FIELD	7:00 p.m. CT
10/22/11	at Detroit #	Detroit, Mich. (Titan Field)	1:00 p.m. CT
10/26/11	vs. Wright State #	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	7:00 p.m. CT
10/29/11	at Valparaiso #	Valparaiso, Ind. (Brown Field)	7:00 p.m. CT
11/02/11	at Loyola #	Chicago, Ill. (Loyola Soccer Park)	7:00 p.m. CT
11/05/11	vs. Milwaukee #	Chicago, Ill. (Flames Field)	7:00 p.m. CT

Norte Dame

Why do we include Notre Dame's full schedule?  A decent amount of Fire fans live in Northern Indiana.  Notre Dame is highly ranked in pre-season polls.  Somehow they manage to not play any regular season games in Chicago this year but they have several top college opponents they will play in South Bend.  UND's Dillon Powers (#4), Ryan Finley (#15), and Aaron Maund (#21) highlight a very special group of players for the Irish this year.  If you have anything resembling a good excuse to check out one of their games, be sure to use it.

University of Notre Dame

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time
08/16/11	at Xavier (exhibition) #	Cincinnati, Ohio	T, 1-1
08/18/11	at Butler (exhibition) #	Indianapolis, Ind.	W, 2-1
08/22/11	vs. Creighton (exhibition) #	Notre Dame, Ind.	T, 2-2
08/27/11	vs. Indiana	Notre Dame, Ind.	7:30 p.m. ET
adidas/IU Credit Union Classic
09/02/11	vs. Dayton	Bloomington, Ind.	5:00 p.m. ET
09/04/11	vs. Saint Louis	Bloomington, Ind.	11:30 a.m. ET
Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament
09/09/11	vs. Denver	Notre Dame, Ind.	7:30 p.m. ET
09/11/11	vs. Bucknell	Notre Dame, Ind.	2:00 p.m. ET
09/16/11	vs. Michigan	Notre Dame, Ind.	7:30 p.m. ET
09/18/11	at Michigan State	East Lansing, Mich.	1:00 p.m. ET
09/24/11	vs. Louisville *	Notre Dame, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
10/01/11	at St. John's *	Jamaica, N.Y.	7:30 p.m. ET
10/05/11	vs. Northwestern	Notre Dame, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
10/08/11	vs. Connecticut *	Notre Dame, Ind.	12:00 p.m. ET
10/12/11	at Marquette *	Milwaukee, Wis.	8:00 p.m. ET
10/15/11	at Georgetown *	Washington, D.C.	1:00 p.m. ET
10/19/11	vs. Seton Hall *	Notre Dame, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
10/22/11	at Pittsburgh *	Pittsburgh, Pa.	7:00 p.m. ET
10/26/11	at Providence *	Providence, R.I.	3:00 p.m. ET
10/29/11	vs. West Virginia	Notre Dame, Ind.	12:00 p.m. ET

Other Schools

The following is a list of schools that have Division I soccer programs and are in or around Illinois.  St. Louis University and Louisville might be pushing it but they are both five hours away and in states that border Illinois.  Almost all of these schools have a top 25 opponent somewhere on their schedule.  If you live nearby, check it out.  You never know who the next Chicago Fire player or MLS star might be.

Illinois

Bradley

Eastern Illinois

Northern Illinois

Southern Illinois - Edwardsville

Western Illinois

Indiana

Butler

Evansville

Indiana University

IUPUI

Marquette

Valparaiso

Iowa

Drake

Kentucky

Louisville

Missouri

St. Louis University

Wisconsin

Green Bay

Milwaukee

University of Wisconsin