Delaware men’s soccer to join Summit League in 2025

The University of Delaware men’s soccer team will be racking up the miles when they travel for conference away games starting in the fall of 2025.

The Summit League announced Thursday that the Blue Hens men’s team will be joining the midwest conference as an affiliate member in 2025. They will become the sixth member of the conference for men’s soccer. Their closest rival will be the University of Missouri-Kansas City at 1,100 miles away.

The Blue Hens will remain in good standing in the Colonial Athletic Association through the fall season before making the move, necessitated by the athletics program joining Conference USA. Conference USA stopped sponsoring men’s soccer after the 2021 season.

“The Summit League has gone from strength to strength as a soccer conference, and have been successful for several years in fielding teams who are competitive on the national stage,” head coach Tommy McMenemy said in a news release. “The conference’s pedigree was highlighted again this past season, sending two teams to the NCAA Tournament. National relevance and ambition as a conference was key in our search process, and we feel we’ve found the right home in the Summit League.”

The other men’s programs in The Summit League include the University of Denver (1,706 miles), Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla. (1,254 miles), University of Nebraska-Omaha (1,188 miles) and the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota (1,136 miles).

Delaware’s furthest rivalry in the CAA is the College of Charleston (629 miles). Its closest rival is Drexel at 43 miles from campus.