Soccer schedule filled with non-conference competition

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The 2011 Central Michigan women’s soccer schedule is filled with non-conference competition, two major road trips and a home game against Big East opponent Pittsburgh.

“I think it’s a great, competitive schedule for us again,” head coach Neil Stafford said. “It’s really going to give us some good tests and really help prepare us for our conference play.”

Preparation for conference play is Stafford’s biggest goal for the non-conference games.

“Every single Mid-American Conference game is the biggest game, starting with the first one,” he said. “All the other games are great, and they’ll get us ready, but as soon as Sept. 23 comes around, that’s the game we’re focused on.”

At 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, CMU makes its conference debut at Akron, Ohio.

The game will take place amidst the second and final four-game regular season road trip for CMU.

The first begins Aug. 26 against Evansville and includes games against Indiana State, Kentucky and Louisville.

Afterward, the Chippewas head home for one game against Pittsburgh, and then back on the road for the other four-game road trip, which includes Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.

CMU played to a 0-0 draw against Michigan and beat Wisconsin 2-0 in the spring exhibition season.

Stafford said he believes these early-season road trips will help the group work out a team dynamic.

“It’s always nice to gel and come together, but I think those road games provide an opportunity to gel,” he said. “We love going on the road as a program. We do some team bonding.”

The Chippewas get multiple opportunities to compete against marquee conference teams in the upcoming schedule.

An early test comes in an exhibition game against West Virginia. Four games later, Central Michigan has a five game stretch against Kentucky, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Michigan and Wisconsin.

They are all a part of larger conferences, but Stafford insisted his team can compete against the big kids.

“I think we have to go to past results and see how we did,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll continue the trend that we’re setting. I think we’ve done more than well against teams with supposedly bigger conference names.”

Stafford said the team’s expectations are “as high as ever.”

“In my eyes, Central Michigan is more than competitive (against larger conference opponents),” he said. “We’ll be focused on West Virginia and then we’ll focus on our next opponent after that.”