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Last year when the West Virginia men's soccer team kicked the season off against No. 16 UC Santa Barbara, head coach Marlon LeBlanc wanted the Mountaineer faithful to pack the stands. They responded by breaking the attendance record at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium with 2,938 fans.
As the Mountaineers prepare to kick off the season Friday against No. 9 Monmouth and Sunday with No. 17 UNC Wilmington, LeBlanc has issued a similar challenge to the students.
On his Twitter page, he stated his goal for the first game was to crush last year's attendance record and put 4,000 people in the stadium for the huge game Friday night.
If it happens, it will be a pretty impressive feat, considering Dick Dlesk only holds 1,600 fans. But LeBlanc still doesn't think that number is out of the question.
"On a campus like this where you've got 25,000 students, it's almost a crazier question to ask why you can't get 4,000 fans," LeBlanc said. "They're a top-10 team, it's the first football weekend, and it's Labor Day weekend. With all the people in town this weekend, 4,000 should definitely be doable."
Over the weekend, LeBlanc met with leaders of the Mountaineer Maniacs to discuss some of the things he would like to see Friday and Sunday night.
The Maniacs will be giving out free soccer shirts to the first 200 students to show up for the game Friday night.
The Athletic Department also installed 250 extra bleachers around the stadium to hold the additional fans. Those bleachers will only be utilized when the stadium seating is filled.
The Mountaineer Maniacs will have a bus to take students from FanFest to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium at 6 p.m.,in front of the Mountainlair.
He hopes the more students in attendance, the more intimidating the environment will be for the two nationally ranked teams coming into Morgantown.
"We want a boisterous crowd," LeBlanc said. "Our guys can hear every sound that comes from those stands, and so can the other team. The setting we have in our stadium lets the fans truly have an impact on the game: singing, dancing, beating drums, things you can't do at a football or basketball game."
With the large crowds, great opponents and some new twists thrown in – such as the students singing "Country Roads" as the team walks out onto the field – the games this weekend could be huge steps forward in making the men's soccer program even more relevant throughout the student body.
"It's going to be a terrific weekend for us as a program," LeBlanc said. "And hopefully a time for our fans to step up and support our team in two massive games that could be hugely important at the end of the year."
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