July 23, 2007
SAN DIEGO - With the soccer season just around the corner, first-year head women's soccer coach Mike Friesen announced the Aztecs' complete 19-match 2007 schedule on Monday.
"This season's schedule will be very challenging," Friesen said. "We are excited about the opportunity to face a quality opponent each time we take the field.
"We play some talented teams in our non-conference schedule, including four Pac-10 teams, that will help prepare us to compete for a conference championship."
After starting the last three campaigns on the road, the Scarlet and Black will kickoff the season at the SDSU Sports Deck on Aug. 31 against Toledo. The Aztecs will stay in San Diego for a match versus Florida Atlantic on Sept. 2.
The opening-weekend match-ups are just two of the 10 scheduled home contests for the upcoming season.
The highly competitive non-conference home slate features three games against teams that reached the 2006 NCAA tournament, including Toledo and is highlighted by contests against Pac-10 conference title contenders California (Sept. 16) and 2006 national semi-finalist UCLA (Oct. 5).
The Bruins, who fell in the national semi-finals to eventual champion Notre Dame, return eight of 11 starters from a team that finished the 2006 season with a 21-4 record. The Aztecs will host UCLA in San Diego for the first time since 1999.
In non-conference road action, the Aztecs will travel to six schools over a four-week span starting with a trip to Omaha, Neb., to take on Creighton on Sept. 7. SDSU completes the two-match trip in Nebraska by taking on the Cornhuskers on Sept. 9 in Lincoln.
Starting Sept. 19, the Aztecs begin their longest road tour of the season, four consecutive games, traveling north to face San Jose State before continuing on to face UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 23), and Pac-10 foes Arizona State (Sept. 28) and Arizona (Sept. 30).
Before Mountain West Conference competition starts, the Aztecs wrap up non-conference play at home on Oct. 7 against CSU Bakersfield.
MWC plays starts off for SDSU with road matches against Air Force (Oct. 12) and UNLV (Oct. 14).
The Scarlet and Black then finish the season hosting four of its final five contests, which includes a three-match homestand with Brigham Young (Oct. 18), Wyoming (Oct. 21) and New Mexico (Oct. 25).
A trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, to face the defending league regular-season champion Utes (Oct. 28) and the final home match against TCU (Nov. 2) wrap up the campaign for SDSU before the MWC Women's Soccer Championship takes place in Provo, Utah, from Nov. 7-10 on the campus of BYU.
The top six teams advance to Provo to compete for an automatic bid to the 64-team 2007 NCAA tournament. Early round action will be held at campus sites, with the championship to be hosted by Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.