Women's Soccer: 2009 Schedule Announced
May 12, 2009 02:45 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
May 12, 2009
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| Ed Pastilong |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong today announced the schedule for the upcoming 2009 women’s soccer season.
“Nikki Izzo-Brown has again put together a very challenging schedule,” said Pastilong. “Playing a competitive regular season schedule has led to nine straight NCAA tournament appearances. We look forward to watching Nikki’s team this fall.”
Seven opponents on this year’s slate made the 2008 NCAA Tournament – Boston, BYU, Marquette, Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee and Virginia.
“The 2009 season will be very challenging," said coach Izzo-Brown, who returns five starters from a year ago. “Playing against some of the nation’s best teams early will help us prepare for conference play as we look to defend our division title.”
West Virginia will play nine matches this fall at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium and will take to the road for 10 contests. WVU opens up the 2009 campaign at home against Ohio State on Sunday, Aug. 23.
Awaiting the Mountaineers in the early season are two challenging tournaments – the Penn State Invitational and the Virginia NIKE Soccer Classic. WVU will face Penn State and BYU in University Park, Pa., on Aug. 29-31. West Virginia plays Dartmouth and tournament host Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., on Sept. 11-13.
The Mountaineers, winners of three straight BIG EAST American Division titles, open conference play on Sept. 17 with a road match at Pitt. West Virginia will make road trips to USF, Villanova, Georgetown, Connecticut and Providence.
WVU’s BIG EAST home opener is schedule for Sept. 24 against Marquette. The Mountaineers also hosts conference foes Notre Dame, DePaul, Syracuse and St. John’s this season.
The BIG EAST Championship begins on campus sites with first round action set for Thursday, Oct. 29 and quarterfinal action on Sunday, Nov. 1. Connecticut will play host to the BIG EAST semifinals and finals on Nov. 6-8.
The Mountaineers completed the 2008 season with a 14-3-6 record, tying the school record for fewest losses in a season. West Virginia finished the season with a final ranking of 14th by the NSCAA as Coach Izzo-Brown guided her team to a ninth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance, the country’s ninth-best active streak.
| Date | Opponent | Time/Result |
| Aug 19 | MARYLAND (Exhibition) | 7:00 p.m. |
| Aug 23 | OHIO STATE | 6:00 p.m. |
| Aug 29 | at Penn State# | 7:00 p.m. |
| Aug 31 | vs. BYU# | TBA |
| Sept 3 | DUQUESNE | 7:00 p.m. |
| Sept 6 | BOSTON | 1:30 p.m. |
| Sept 11 | at Virginia^ | 6:00 p.m. |
| Sept 13 | vs. Dartmouth^ | 12:00 p.m. |
| Sept 18 | at Pitt | 7:00 p.m. |
| Sept 20 | TENNESSEE | 1:00 p.m. |
| Sept 24 | MARQUETTE | 7:00 p.m. |
| Sept 27 | at USF | 1:00 p.m. |
| Oct 2 | NOTRE DAME | 7:00 p.m. |
| Oct 4 | DePAUL | 1:00 p.m. |
| Oct 9 | SYRACUSE | 7:00 p.m. |
| Oct 11 | ST. JOHN'S | 1:00 p.m. |
| Oct 16 | at Villanova | 4:00 p.m. |
| Oct 18 | at Georgetown | 1:00 p.m. |
| Oct 23 | at Connecticut | 7:00 p.m. |
| Oct 25 | at Providence | 1:00 p.m. |
| Oct 29 | BIG EAST First Round (campus sites) | TBA |
| Nov 1 | BIG EAST Quarterfinals (campus sites) | TBA |
| Nov 6 | BIG EAST Semifinals (Storrs, Conn.) | TBA |
| Nov 8 | BIG EAST Finals (Storrs, Conn.) | TBA |
| All Times ET | ||
# Penn State Invitational; University Park, Pa.
^ Virginia NIKE Soccer Classic; Charlottesville, Va.