MORGANTOWN , W. Va - The No. 16 West Virginia Mountaineers open the 2025 campaign against Manhattan at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Thursday Aug. 21.
Leading the charge for the tenth time is Head Coach Dan Stratford, who led the Mountaineers through a successful 2024 season after winning the Sunbelt conference championship for the first time in program history taking down No. 8 Marshall then winning a single game in the national tournament against North Florida shortly thereafter, they were then eliminated by No. 11 Virginia three days later.
Stratford returns 13 players from last year's team. Among them are Senior Marcus Caldera who was named the 2025 Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year. Graduate Carlos Hernando and Sophomore Isaac Sheer also join Caldera on this year’s squad. All three Mountaineers have places on the 2025 Preseason All-Sun Belt team.
West Virginia has brought on 15 newcomers during the spring and summer, eight freshman and seven transfers join the ranks for the 2025 season.
Manhattan comes into the 2025 season with a new skipper at the helm. Head Coach Tom Giovatto leads the Jaspers after former Head Coach Jorden Scott stepped down as coach and was promoted to Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs and Program Development at Manhattan University.
The Jaspers feature a trio of Preseason All-MAAC team members, Ziv Dahan, Henry Hamilton, and Nassim Akki. Ludvig Målberg returns as the man between the posts for Manhattan who started all 16 matches last season.
Join U-92 Sports Director Quinn Robie on play by play and Matt Foley on color commentary live from Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The sports staff at U-92 will bring the half time and post game shows. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 with pregame 15 minutes prior live from the stadium. The broadcast can be heard locally on 91.7 FM, u92themoose.com, an Alexa At-Home Device, or the RadioFX and TuneIn apps.