College Football | ‘Jacks’ Regular Season Kicks Off with Humboldt Classic Kickoff – Times-Standard

The regular season will begin with the Humboldt Classic Kickoff for both the men’s and women’s Cal Poly Humboldt soccer teams. The women’s team will kick off on Thursday and the men’s team will be in action on Friday.

The Humboldt Classic Kickoff is a new concept as the ‘Jacks host three schools, both men’s and women’s, at College Creek Field for the start of the 2024 season.

“This is the first time I’ve done this,” said ‘Jacks women’s head coach Grant Landy. “We wanted to maybe create a tradition of hosting a couple of teams the first or second week of the season and get the season off to a good start.”

After a program-high 13 wins in 2023, the ‘Jacks hope to pick up win No. 1 in 2024 against Azusa Pacific on Thursday before playing Seattle Pacific on Saturday. The women’s team defeated Simpson University 4-0 in their final exhibition match, giving the team a little more confidence heading into the regular season.

“It was definitely nice to see the ball go in the net,” Landy said. “It just takes time. We have a really short preseason to get ready and we’ll get a lot of improvement playing non-conference games over the next two to three weeks.”

The men’s team will begin its regular season on Friday, with the ‘Jacks facing Westminster University in the final game of the Humboldt Classic Kickoff, followed by Dominican University on Sunday.

“The big question that everybody in the country has right now is always, ‘I know I have X amount of players and X amount of talent on my team. The question is, ‘Can they find a way to go out there and compete together and win games?’ It’s something that’s not very tangible,” Humboldt men’s head coach Fred Jungemann said. “No matter how good a coach you are, until you actually start doing it, you don’t know. Some years it works, some years it doesn’t.”

The ‘Jacks men’s team finished 5-7-5 in 2023, finishing eighth in the CCAA and four points shy of the conference tournament.

“We know that conference play is tough every year and it takes a lot to make it to the conference tournament,” Jungemann said. “Every year is kind of separate and has its own identity depending on where all the other teams are.”

The women’s team will be looking for another shot at the CCAA tournament after a semifinal defeat a year ago, and similar to the Humboldt Classic Kickoff, the women’s CCAA tournament will be held in Arcata in November.

“The players are excited, so they’re putting in all the work, to get to meaningful games,” Landy said of his team entering the regular season. “We want to be sharp on the field and mentally sharp and focused. I just want them to compete for 90 minutes.”

Landy says the team was under pressure to build on last year’s historic season but that it was different this time around because of their experience last season.

“There was a lot of expectation on last year’s group, especially because we had such a strong start, that expectation can lead to pressure, so I think players go through a year like that, so it’ll be good to be able to handle that a little bit better this year,” Landy said. “Once you have some success we’ll be more prepared for that part of the game.”

The Humboldt Classic Kickoff is free to attend. Matches begin at 12:30 p.m. Thursday with Sonoma State and Seattle Pacific kicking off, followed by the ‘Jacks taking on the Cougars at 3 p.m. The full schedule for the women’s matches is as follows: https://humboldtathletics.com/sports/womens-soccer/scheduleThe men’s competition begins on Friday and the full schedule is available here: https://humboldtathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule.

Original Release Date: September 4, 2024 14:41