New Mexico United soccer: 2023 schedule is out, and the home dates look good
Jan. 9—New Mexico United fans won't see much of their club until June, but Saturday gatherings at Isotopes Park will be frequent during the rest of the club's 2023 season.
The USL Championship released its regular-season schedule Monday, and it features some notable changes from 2022. The league includes 24 teams divided into 12-team Eastern and Western conferences. Clubs will face each of their conference foes twice (home and away) and take on each nonconference opponent once (six home, six away) over the course of a 34-game schedule.
For United, home appearances will be infrequent early. NMU plays its first three matches and seven of its first 10 on the road, beginning with a March 18 contest at Miami. The home opener is April 15 against San Diego.
But coach Zach Prince's club will enjoy plenty of home cooking later in the season, including a three-game homestand in June and four consecutive home matches beginning in late August.
Prince, United president Peter Trevisani and players Kalen Ryden and Chris Wehan were upbeat about the schedule Monday. All four appeared and took questions on the team's United Sessions podcast.
"To me, the biggest step forward for the league is that everyone plays everyone this year," Prince said. "It's balanced and you get an opportunity to see different areas of the country and different fan bases."
United faces some extensive travel. Its first two matches will be in Florida and California (at Monterey Bay), and a September road trip has NMU playing in Sacramento and Pittsburgh three days apart.
But Prince and his players focused more on the home schedule and capitalizing on a home fan base that led the USLC in attendance last season.
New Mexico posted one of the USLC's best road records (7-3-7) last season but finished 6-6-5 at home.
"Our home record was not anywhere near what it should've been," Ryden said. "A big goal for us this year is to right that wrong."
The 2023 schedule could give United a chance to exceed last season's average home attendance of 10,724 per game as 14 of its 17 home contests will be on weekends (13 on Saturdays). United hosted six midweek games last season and has typically drawn larger crowds on weekends.
Prince also said he is very motivated to earn the club's first home playoff game in 2023, something United fell two points short of accomplishing last season.
The league's playoff format will change this season with eight teams from each conference qualifying for postseason play. Unlike last season, there will be no first-round byes.
The USLC has three fewer teams as MLS-affiliated clubs Atlanta United 2, LA Galaxy II and New York Red Bulls II are moving to MLS Next Pro competition in 2023. The USLC has several expansion franchises set to join its ranks over the next three years, however.
The USLC's website listed three of New Mexico's matches among its 22 to watch for 2023: rivalry matches vs. El Paso (June 3 at home) and at Phoenix (Oct. 7) and a late-season interconference match against Louisville, which makes its first appearance in Albuquerque on Sept. 30.
Prince said he expects to announce "four or five" player signings in the near future with teams scheduled to begin preseason training later this month. Preseason play begins in February, but those schedules have not yet been released.
New Mexico United
2023 Regular Season Schedule
March 18 at Miami
April 1 at Oakland
April 8 at Monterey Bay
April 15 San Diego
April 22 at Colorado Springs
April 29 Orange County
May 5 at Rio Grande Valley
May 13 Monterey Bay
May 17 at Loudoun United
May 27 at San Antonio
June 3 El Paso
June 10 at Tampa Bay
June 17 Rio Grande Valley
June 21 Phoenix
June 24 Colorado Springs
July 1 at El Paso
July 4 at Las Vegas
July 8 Detroit
July 22 Sacramento
July 29 at Orange County
August 5 at Hartford
August 12 San Antonio
August 19 at San Diego
August 23 Oakland
August 26 Tulsa
August 30 Las Vegas
Sept. 2 Charleston
Sept. 9 at Birmingham
Sept. 15 Indy Eleven
Sept. 20 at Sacramento
Sept. 23 at Pittsburgh
Sept. 30 Louisville
Oct. 7 at Phoenix
Oct. 14 Memphis
Note: All game times TBA.
