Men’s & Women’s Soccer

Northwestern’s men’s and women’s soccer teams will play a combined 13 games at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, during the 2015 season, the athletic department announced Wednesday. The move to the home stadium of Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire is due to the ongoing construction of the new Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium, which replaces Lakeside Field.

The men’s team will host six games at Toyota Park and the women’s team will play seven.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to compete in a venue that regularly hosts some of the best players in the world,” men’s coach Tim Lenahan said in a news release. “Our program is excited to showcase a high level of soccer to fans in the city.”

The schedule includes conferences battles against Ohio State, Indiana, Rutgers and Michigan State for the men and Big Ten tilts against Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, Nebraska and Iowa for the women. Complete 2015 schedules for each team will be released next week.

The women had their best season in recent memory in 2014, finishing 9-8-4 overall and notching an upset victory over Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The men’s team, meanwhile, continued its run of excellence by going 9-4-6 overall and advancing to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

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