Sept. 4, 2008

EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette men's soccer team will host the Eighth Annual Lafayette Soccer Classic this weekend at Mike Bouger '44 Field at Oaks Stadium on the Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex. The Leopards will host Temple at 7 p.m. on Friday and take on No. 16 Northwestern on Sunday with a noon start time.

Lafayette opened the 2008 season last weekend at the West Virginia Tournament earning a 1-0 victory against a 15th ranked West Virginia squad before falling 2-1 to Binghamton on Sunday. Sophomore Stephen Macurdy recorded his first collegiate goal Friday night and fellow classmate Andrew Pianko turned aside five Mountaineer shots to earn the shutout in net.

Temple comes into the weekend dropping its only match of the season 3-1 on the road against Villanova. The Owls finished the 2007 season with a 5-11-2 overall record and went 1-7-1 in Atlantic-10 games.

The Leopards will look to derail another top 25 opponent when they take the pitch against Northwestern on Sunday. Northwestern moved up four spots this week to number 16 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll after posting a 2-0-0 week to begin the season. Northwestern hosted the Lakeside Classic and defeated San Francisco and IUPUI 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. Last season, the Wildcats were 12-5-3 and earned an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.

The Leopards have played Temple 38 times in their history and have recorded victories in their previous two contests. Lafayette traveled to Philadelphia to defeat the Owls by a 2-1 score in 2005 and earned a 3-2 victory in 2006 in Easton. In the previous seven years of the Lafayette Soccer Classic, the Leopards are 4-0 against Atlantic 10 opponents defeating La Salle in 2002 (1-0) and 2005 (3-0), Duquesne in 2004 (2-1), and finally Richmond in 2005 (2-1).

Northwestern and Lafayette have never met, although the Leopards did compete in the 2003 Northwestern Classic. The Leopards have never hosted a Big Ten team in their annual tournament.

Following this weekend's competition, the Leopards will travel to compete in the Duquesne Tournament on Sept. 12 and 14.