GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro women’s soccer coach Eddie Radwanski announced his squad’s 2007 schedule on Thursday, featuring 10 home regular-season matches.
The schedule features a challenging non-conference slate for the defending Southern Conference champions. Including the pre-season, UNCG will face six teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season.
“We are excited about the 2007 schedule,” said Radwanski. “We are playing some of the top teams in the country with our non-conference schedule. This is great competition for our team and we feel it will get our girls ready for conference play.
“We play several teams that won their conference regular season or tournament titles and a few more that were NCAA at-large selections. It makes for a tough, challenging schedule which we feel will have us ready to go after another championship.”
After three exhibition matches, UNCG will open the regular season at home against William & Mary on Aug. 31, which won the Colonial Athletic Association last season. The Spartans play host to Central Michigan on September 2, a team that went 13-4-2 last season, before facing Northwestern and Ball State at the Florida Atlantic Tournament. Ball State finished last season 13-3-3, winning the Mid-American Conference’s regular season title.
That opening serves as a “tune-up” for what lies ahead. UNCG comes home to face the toughest three-match stretch it has ever played. The Spartans will face defending National Champion North Carolina, Wake Forest, which finished ranked No. 19, and Tennessee, which was ranked No. 25 at the end of last season. Wake Forest lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, while Tennessee lost to North Carolina in the third round.
“Playing North Carolina, the defending national champions, at home is a wonderful opportunity for any team,” said Radwanski. “It will be a great challenge and a tremendous learning opportunity to play the top program in the country.”
Last year, UNCG lost in Chapel Hill, 1-0, to the Tar Heels.
Even the exhibition schedule is tough. UNCG will face East Carolina and Duke during the pre-season. The Blue Devils were also an NCAA Tournament team last season.
And if that isn’t enough, UNCG will open the Southern Conference slate with three consecutive road matches. The Spartans will travel to Wofford, Western Carolina and Chattanooga to open league play next season.
The Spartans finished the 2006 season with a 13-8-2 overall record and captured the Southern Conference regular season title as well as the SoCon Tournament crown after finishing conference play 9-0-1. Radwanski helped UNCG advance to the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament for the seventh time in the program’s history, where the Spartans lost to Oklahoma State, 2-0, in the first round. Fourteen players return from that squad for this season.
UNCG soccer season tickets will go on sale July 1, while single-match ticket sales will begin Aug. 1. For more information, call the UNCG athletic ticket office at 334-3250.
AGATE
2007 UNCG Women’s Soccer Schedule: Aug. 21 East
Carolina (exhibition), 7 pm; Aug. 25 at Duke (exhibition), 7 pm;
Aug. 31 William & Mary, 7 pm; Sept. 2 Central Michigan, 1 pm;
Sept. 7 vs. Northwestern (at Florida Atlantic Tournament) 5 pm;
Sept. 9 vs. Ball State (at Florida Atlantic Tournament), 11 am;
Sept. 12 North Carolina, 7 pm; Sept. 15 Wake Forest, 7 pm; Sept. 21
Tennessee, 7 pm; Sept. 27 at Wofford, 6 pm; Sept. 30 at Western
Carolina, 2 pm; Oct. 4 at Chattanooga, 7 pm; Oct. 7 Georgia
Southern, 2 pm; Oct. 14 at Davidson, 2 pm; Oct. 18 The Citadel, 7
pm; Oct. 21 at Furman, 2 pm; Oct. 25 Appalachian State, 7 pm; Oct.
28 College of Charleston, 1 pm; Nov. 1 Elon, 7 pm; Nov. 4 at SoCon
quarterfinals (hosted by top four seeds), TBD; Nov. 9 and 11 at
SoCon Tournament (at Davidson), TBD.
- UNCG -