WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University men's soccer program released its slate for 2015 on Tuesday. The Hoyas will face some of the best teams in the nation as well as having a challenging BIG EAST Conference schedule.

"We have a schedule that is easy to get excited about starting with three tough exhibition games," said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. "Every single game on the schedule will be a unique test and will demand a good performance out of us."

The Hoyas finished last season 14-4-5 on the season and advancing to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals before failing to advance against eventual national champ Virginia.

In 20 total games in 2015, including three exhibitions, the Hoyas will face one MLS squad, nine 2014 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including three of the four College Cup participants, both teams in the national championship game and six ranked among the top 16 seeded squads.

The Blue & Gray will play 10 home games including five against conference opponents. The format of the league has each team meeting once. GU will host NCAA qualifiers Providence (Sept. 26) and Creighton (Nov. 5), as well as Butler (Oct. 10), Marquette (Oct. 14) and Seton Hall (Oct. 28). The Friars participated in last year's NCAA College Cup.

The Hoyas' BIG EAST road schedule opens at NCAA qualifier Xavier on Oct. 3. GU will also play at DePaul (Oct. 17), St. John's (Oct. 24) and Villanova (Oct. 31).

Georgetown will open the season with a pair of road exhibition games against Syracuse and the MLS' Philadelphia Union on Aug. 15 and 18. The Hoyas will host Virginia on Aug. 22 in the final exhibition contest of the season. The Orange advanced to the third round of last year's NCAA Tournament and the Cavaliers are the reigning NCAA champions.

The non-conference schedule begins with a weekend in Florida. The Hoyas will face NCAA qualifier Florida Gulf Coast on Aug. 28, and South Florida on Aug. 30.

GU will open play at Shaw Field on Sept. 4, playing host to Akron, who qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament. This begins a three-game homestand which features two 2014 NCAA Tournament teams including the national runner-up UCLA (Sept. 7) and Radford (Sept. 12).

The Hoyas will travel to VCU on Sept. 17 and West Virginia on Sept. 20 for the final two road non-conference games of the season.

Georgetown will close out non-conference play in a home matchup against Maryland on Sept. 23 at Shaw Field. This is the second year of the renewed rivalry between the squads.

The BIG EAST Championship will be played at home sites this season with the higher seed hosting. The top six teams in the league will qualify for the championship. The first round is scheduled for Nov. 8, while the semifinals will be played on Nov. 12. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 15.

Georgetown opens training in mid-August. The Hoyas lost five seniors to graduation, including a pair of MLS players, but return a talented core and bring in a highly-ranked freshman class.