PROVO -- BYU women's soccer head coach Jennifer Rockwood, and staff, announced another rigorous schedule for 2010 and a talented squad ready for action beginning with an exhibition contest in Provo on August 14.
“We look forward to a very challenging schedule in the fall," Rockwood said. "There is a great mix of home and away competition that will force us to play at our best consistently throughout the year. Nearly half of our opponents have the potential to be ranked in the Top 25 for the fall season and have had national success in the past few years. We are playing opponents from several of the top conferences in the country.”
BYU’s 2010 schedule will feature four teams that made appearances in the 2009 NCAA College Cup, one team that the Cougars will play for the first time, opponents from 10 difference conferences, two teams they saw action against in spring ball and seven MWC opponents.
REGULAR SEASON
The Cougars begin their regular season on August 20 with two road games in California against Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton, both from the Big West conference.
Returning to Provo after their California trip, the Cougars will play five home games in a row featuring match-ups between Weber State, Northwestern, Washington State, LSU and Marquette. The Washington State Cougars, the LSU Tigers and the Marquette Golden Eagles all saw action in the 2009 NCAA College Cup with the WSU Cougars and Tigers making it through to the second round.
“The team will have a great home stand starting at the end of August with five home games in a row," Rockwood said. "We hope that our fans will come out to support the team as they have so well in the past. We hope to increase our home attendance that will move us up to the top spot in the country. Our fans bring such great intensity, support, and excitement to our games. It is an amazing environment for women’s college soccer.”
The Cougars will finish up their regular season with two games against the Rice Owls and Texas Longhorns in Texas, a game against Utah State in Logan, and a home game against Idaho State at the end of September. The Cougars will take a break from conference action towards the end of their season with a game against the Santa Clara Broncos on Oct. 28 in Santa Clara. The Broncos made a three-round run in the 2009 NCAA College Cup where they eventually fell to No. 1 seed Stanford.
CONFERENCE MATCH-UPS
After finishing 2009 as the regular season champions, the Cougars will look to defend their title in the seven MWC match-ups in 2010. For their first conference game, the team will hit the road to take on the Wyoming Cowgirls. They then will return home for a game against Air Force, and then travel to Fort Worth and Albuquerque for games against TCU and New Mexico, respectively.
The Cougars were undefeated in the 2009 conference campaign with a 6-0-1 record. BYU netted 15 goals against conference opponents and totaled five shutouts.
“Our conference will be very challenging this year as each team has improved and picked up some great recruits for the future," Rockwood said. "We look forward to defending our regular conference championship and have set a goal to earn our fourth consecutive championship in a row.”
The second half of conference play will feature match-ups against UNLV and San Diego State at home, and then a trip up the freeway to take on rival Utah in Salt Lake.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The Cougars received a first-round bye in the 2009 MWC tournament after being awarded the No. 1 seed. Their first game came in the semifinals against New Mexico with a 1-0 decision awarded to the Cougars. An unfortunate 0-1 loss to San Diego State in the championship kept BYU from being named the tournament champions but didn’t keep them out of the NCAA College Cup tournament.
The No. 1 seed in the regular season, from the previous season, will traditionally host the conference tournament but because BYU hosted the 2009 tournament, San Diego State was chosen to host this year. The Aztecs finished second in the 2009 regular season.
“With the majority of our starting line up returning and coming off a very successful spring season, the team is very optimistic about the future and anxiously awaits the beginning of the 2010 campaign," Rockwood said.
For the full schedule, check out the women's schedule page.