WAVERLY, Iowa - Wartburg men's soccer opens the 2021 season at Salzwedel Field on Wednesday, Sept. 1 for a non-conference match against Gustavus Adolphus College with kickoff slated for 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 1 - 3 p.m. - Waverly, Iowa - Salzwedel Field 
Gustavus Adolphus Gusties (0-0) at Wartburg Knights (0-0) 

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Knights Schedule

Season Outlook
The Knights are back to play after a shortened offseason due to the 2020 fall season being pushed back into a spring 2021 season. Wartburg finished the shortened conference-only schedule with a record of 5-2, which included the last two games being shutout victories.

During that spring season, Jack Palen, Payton Chapman and Caleb Halleran all earned spots on the American Rivers Conference All-Conference team a year ago while Brennon Woody and Sam Thomann received honorable mention honors. Palen paced the team with five goals and 12 points, while Chapman led the program in assists with seven. Between the pipes, Woody played 605 minutes and made 20 saves with a goals against average of 0.89. The junior started in every contest last season and finished with a save percentage of 76.9%. Woody is also entering the season at fourth all time in program history for career average goals against (20GA, 1848 min).

The Orange & Black will return all 11 starters from last season.

In the Polls
The American Rivers Conference released the 2021 Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll on Wednesday, Aug. 18, with Wartburg totaling 38 points and are picked to finish fifth in the league standings, as voted on by A-R-C coaches. 

Gustavus Adolphus College
Last season, the Gusties were also able to compete in the spring where they went 2-0 in their official contests and 5-0 in exhibition matches. Gustavus comes into the 2021 campaign the defending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) champions from 2019. 

The last time these two teams matched up was 2019 at Gustavus where Wartburg won the match 2-1 capped off by a game-winning goal from Kevin Duque.