April 18, 2008

Printable 2008 Schedule

ATHENS, Ohio - Head Coach Stacy Strauss and the Ohio women's soccer team have released their 2008 fall regular season schedule which features eight home contests at Chessa Field.

The Bobcats non-conference schedule begins with four road games played at two different tournaments. The Bobcats will begin the regular season with a pair of games at a tournament hosted by Georgetown, where the Bobcats will play American and the host Hoyas on Aug. 29 and 31, respectively.

The following weekend, on Sept. 5 and 7, the Bobcats will play in the Gopher Classic at the University of Minnesota's Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium where Ohio will square-off against Minnesota on Friday and Northeastern on Sunday.

It will be the first time Ohio has faced any of its first four opponents of the 2008 season. Last year Georgetown posted a 14-6 record overall before falling to Notre Dame in the second round of the Big East Tournament. Minnesota had a 9-8-2 record overall last season under head coach Mikki Denney-Wright with a 5-5 mark in Big Ten play.

The `Cats will play three games over the next two weeks - against Cleveland State, Xavier and Marshall - all at home at Chessa Field before opening up conference action on the road at Kent State. Ohio holds a 1-0 mark all time against Cleveland State, 7-0 record against Marshall and has a 1-3 showing against Xavier.

The Bobcats begin conference play Friday, Sept. 26 at Kent State before heading to Buffalo to play the Bulls on Sunday, Sept. 28. Last year Ohio defeated Kent State 2-1 in double-overtime, also in the Bobcats' conference opener, and knocked off Buffalo 3-1 in the following game.

Oct. 3 against Bowling Green and Oct. 5 against Toledo are the team's first two home conference games of the season but Ohio will quickly head back out on the road to play a four-game MAC stretch against Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Ball State and Miami.

But following the four-game road trip, the `Cats will close out the season with three consecutive home games at Chessa Field against Central Michigan on Oct. 24, Eastern Michigan on Oct. 26 and Akron on Oct. 30 in the regular season finale. Last season the Bobcats defeated Akron on the road in the final game of the season, 3-2 in double-overtime.

The Bobcats will also play two exhbition games at Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on Aug. 18 and 24, respectively.

The Bobcats will return 12 letterwinners from last season's squad that won five conference games on its way to a sixth seed in the MAC Tournament. Included in those returning are Ohio's two leading goal-scorers from 2007, Erika Schmitt and Amy Lower, as well as goalkeeper Jess MacLean, who posted Ohio's fourth lowest goals against average for a season in program history - allowing just 1.05 scores a game.

Strauss and the Bobcats will also welcome 13 incoming freshmen to next year's team.

The returning players have been competing in spring friendlies this month and senior-to-be Courtney Mink is leading all Bobcats in points with four on one goal and two assists. Mink scored Ohio's lone goal in a 1-0 victory against Morehead State and assisted on both goals in the Bobcats' 2-0 victory against Austin Peay last weekend. Ohio currently sports a record of 2-1-1 in spring play with a pair of games against Canadian club teams, Burlington and Erin Mills, on Sunday at Kent State. Ohio will play Ohio State on April 26 and Cincinnati on May 11, both at home, before finishing the spring season with the annual Alunmi Game on May 17 at Chessa Field. 

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Joe Waltasti is the women's soccer contact for the Ohio media relations office. He can be reached via email at waltasti@ohio.edu.