Year-round soccer inbound.

Penn State men’s soccer will support the newly affirmed Division I men’s soccer schedule that shifts the playing season to a year-round model, head coach Rob Dow said Wednesday.

“[Penn State] will not vote to support the rescission. We are supportive of the flex model,” Dow said. “… 61 teams to date have voted to rescind that decision; 245 teams need to do that.”

The Division I Cabinet for men’s soccer recently reviewed and approved a proposal to shift the NCAA DI men’s soccer season from fall to a split fall-and-spring format.

The Men’s College Cup would be held in the spring, rather than in December.

However, the cabinet did not approve the proposal with at least 75% of the vote. Therefore, the proposal will now enter a 30-day recess period, during which any eligible schools can vote to defeat it.

Dow and Penn State will not vote against the change.

Under the new schedule, the regular season would span both the fall and spring semesters while keeping the total game limit at 25.

Teams would schedule up to 18 games from late August to the week before Thanksgiving, then up to 10 more during the spring, which begins in mid-February.

The NCAA said the change would “allow more time for rest and recovery between games for men’s soccer student-athletes, in addition to reduced weekday travel.”

The DI Women’s Soccer Oversight Committee also reviewed the proposal but declined to propose a similar change in DI women’s soccer.

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