Photo credit: Dan Hickling
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The 2015 season inched a bit closer on Monday, as the National Premier Soccer League approved the regular season schedule for the MidWest Conference.
FC Buffalo will play former Great Lakes East division opponents twice, with home-and-road match-ups against divisional opponents AFC Cleveland, Fort Pitt Regiment and Erie.
“Our 2015 schedule features a challenging slate, with the best competition in the NPSL coming to our front door,” said FC Buffalo co-owner Nick Mendola. “We’re really excited to bring the championship contender we’re building to the rest of the league, and how our home dates line up with Buffalo’s brilliant summer.”
The MidWest Conference will be single table, with four teams making the playoffs after playing an unbalanced schedule. FC Buffalo will not play the three conference teams geographically furthest from Wester New York: Madison 56ers, Minnesota TwinStars and Minnesota United Reserves. The remaining clubs — Detroit City FC, Cincinnati Saints, Michigan Stars, Lansing United, FC Indiana Lions and Indiana Fire — play the Wolves once.
FC Buffalo opens and closes its regular season at home. The opener is Saturday, May 16, a night game against Cincinnati, with the regular season finale a Sunday, July 19 matinee against Fort Pitt.
The Wolves ownership expects to announce a home venue in the coming weeks.
Finally, here’s some pure speculation, consider the Supporters Groups for FCB, Cleveland and DCFC run the Rust Belt Derby and choose the dates: With Cleveland visiting Detroit on May 15, and Detroit visiting us on May 23, we’ll presume the third date of the RBD is our visit to Cleveland on June 27.
Current 2015 schedule
Friendlies
TBA: Spring tournament vs. UB, Gannon, Buffalo State
Saturday, April 25 – FC Buffalo at Genesee Community College
NPSL season
Saturday, May 16 – Cincinnati Saints vs. FC Buffalo
Saturday, May 23 – Detroit City FC vs. FC Buffalo
Friday, May 29 – FC Buffalo at FC Indiana Lions
Sunday, May 31 – FC Buffalo at Indiana Fire
Sunday, June 7 – Erie vs. FC Buffalo
Saturday, June 13 – FC Buffalo at Michigan Stars FC
Sunday, June 21 – Fort Pitt Regiment vs. FC Buffalo
Saturday, June 27 – FC Buffalo at AFC Cleveland
Friday, July 3 – FC Buffalo at Erie
Friday, July 10 – Lansing United vs. FC Buffalo
Sunday, July 12 – FC Buffalo at Fort Pitt Regiment
Sunday, July 19 – AFC Cleveland vs. FC Buffalo
July 24-26 – MidWest Conference playoffs
July 31-Aug.2 – NPSL semifinals
Aug.7-Aug.9 – NPSL semifinals and final
