This afternoon the USL’s dart board must’ve fallen off the wall and accidentally hit publish on the website. The league narrowly avoided going into February again without a schedule. Bust out the cake and punch!
At any rate here we are. 32 games against the Eastern Conference over 30 weeks. A grueling schedule and a long way from the 20 game season when the Steel Army first started. As we know from Friday’s announcement we’re kicking things off at the same time in late March, but this year we’re going a couple weeks later into October. Coupled with playing nearly a quarter this year’s matches before May, we’re going to get a lot of use out of our scarves.
The Hounds kick the season off with a tough opening month. 7 games in the first 35 days, with 5 of them against top half teams from 2016. While the first two matches are at home, they’re tough ones against League Champion Red Bulls II and League favorite FC Cincinnati. Brandt has his work cut out for him to start his first full season with the Hounds. Slow starts are a Hounds tradition, and the League didn’t make it easy on them this year. Positive results out of the first batch of games will do wonders for our mood throughout the rest of the season.
After a busy start to the season things slow down a bit in May and June. Having some space around the Open Cup is always a plus and should give the Hounds a chance to focus on it while still getting the guys some rest. Things pick back up in July for a packed second half of the year.
Some weird gaps between league home games from May to August. May- 17 days between matches, June- 19 days, July- 22 days, August- 21 days. I’m guessing teams with less control over their venues push for home games around these months, where a team like the Hounds can take on the “outside” portion schedule. Makes sense, but could prove tough to keep any home field momentum the Hounds might have.
With the schedule in hand here’s some dates to circle-
3/25 – vs NYRB II (Season/Home opener)
4/12 – vs Saint Louis FC (Return of Angulo and possibly Thompson)
6/17 – @ Louisville City FC (Return of Slugger Field bullshit)
6/22 – vs Tampa Bay Rowdies (Rematch of the 2015 Open Cup game)
7/4 – vs Charlotte Independence (July 4th!)
8/12 – @ Harrisburg (Final Keystone Cup match)
9/2 – @ FC Cincinnati (“THE RILVARY”)
10/14 – vs Ottawa Fury FC (Final game)
2017 Keystone Cup dates-
4/29 – Home
5/24 – @ Harrisburg
8/12 – @ Harrisburg
Possible Away Trips (all Saturdays)-
7/15 – Bethlehem
7/22 – Rochester
8/12 – Harrisburg
9/2 – Cincinnati
The season’s just around the corner. Time to get hyped!
#UNLEASH
