It’s been more than 8 months since Virginia bested Akron on penalty kicks to win the 2009 NCAA Championship. On Wednesday night all the talking stops and more than 200 DI men’s soccer programs begin the quest to claim the biggest and smaller prizes between now and December in brand new Tenney Stadium.

At TopDrawerSoccer.com we are extremely happy to be bringing the season-opening match between Hudson River Valley rivals Marist and Army, LIVE. The webcast begins at 6:45 p.m. EST on Wednesday, with kickoff at 7. Along with the match presentation you’ll also have a chance to vote on a player of the match for both schools and interact live with the event.

The match itself brings an interesting contrast between two programs, one on the rise and another looking to follow suit.

Marist coach Matt Viggiano arrived at the program 4 years ago and things were pretty tough. By last year the Red Foxes had reached respectability and this season Viggiano is hoping to take the squad to the next level.

New Army head coach Russell Payne inherits a similar situation to what Viggiano found. Army won just 1 match last year, but Payne is working on changing the team’s culture and attitude and of course, to build a winner.

Viggiano can relate.

“I definitely was there,” he said of Payne’s situation at Army. “It takes a while when you are a mid-major program and not always attracting the biggest names in the world. You work and you can get 2-3 good guys a year, just not 6 impact players right away. We’ve done that over the years. We’ve kind of cherry-picked guys who were passed over by top schools. Once you do that then after a few years you have a good 11 to put out there. Now we are starting to get deep so if we have a few injuries there is cover. But it wasn’t like that at first. I definitely empathize with Russell.”

Viggiano emphasized that empathy should not be mistaken for sympathy, or overconfidence.

“We are the only two DI schools in the Hudson Valley,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if we‘re poor or they are having a poor year, it seems like the games are always close. This is opening day so the mentality for everyone will be fresh. We know they will come in here and work hard, and our guys will definitely be up for opening night. It should be a good game again.”

Payne is looking to lay down a blanket of positives with his team and sees Wednesday match as a great place to implement some of the lessons he has been teaching his squad.

“We want our group to be looked at as highly focused, a team that concentrates well. We want to be a team that is looked as one that fights and can grind out results,” he said. “We want to get sharper technically and tactically to try to play. That’s how I was brought up as a player and a coach and that’s how I want us to be. At the same time we need to play to our strengths, to keep the ball, penetrate and take advantage of transition.”

Army only has 4 seniors eligible to play this season, but Payne is looking for leadership from them.

A key player for the Black Knights is senior midfielder Sean Kim, a former Korean U17 international. Cameron Jarvis and Tanner Robertson are two players Payne mentioned who can make things happen going forward for the Black Knights.

Marist is led on the field by 1st Team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference performer Krystian Witkowski, a skilled midfielder Viggiano describes as special.

“His technical ability is like a pro. He can turn on a dime, hit the ball with either foot and his soccer IQ is there to see,” he said. “We have to guard against just watching him because he can beat 3 guys on the dribble. It’s amazing to see what he can do when he dribbles at people.”

Forward Stephan Brossard and goalkeeper Joe Pilla are also keys to Marist this season.

So it’s a classic matchup of teams in contrasting situations but similar goals and philosophies, and it’s all happening on opening day, Wednesday night on TopDrawerSoccer.com LIVE!