Women’s soccer schedule includes Penn State Invite, trips to Marquette, Purdue, Texas

The 2012 schedule for the Central Michigan University’s women’s soccer team was released last week and includes trips to Penn State, Texas and Wisconsin.

One of the biggest highlights of the non-conferences schedule for head coach Neil Stafford is playing in the Penn State Invitational, which includes defending national champions Stanford.

“I think it will be cool to be at a tournament where the defending national champions are,” Stafford said. “Although we won’t play Stanford, it will be cool to be in a tournament with West Virginia, Penn State and Stanford.”

Stafford believes playing at Penn State will be a big lift to his team.

The team will also travel down to Texas to play Texas A&M, which Stafford expects will provide a great atmosphere.

“They have a very rich tradition,” Stafford said. “We’ll be down there with some fantastic crowds. I think that will be a highlight in the schedule.”

The most familiar part of the schedule will be the Mid-American Conference opponents.

CMU will play Kent State, Ohio, Akron, Buffalo and Miami (Ohio) in Mount Pleasant and travel to Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Ball State and Bowling Green.

Other notable opponents include Marquette and Purdue.

“The MAC play will be a massive highlight in our schedule,” Stafford said. “We are going to want to get back to our winning ways. Hopefully redeeming ourselves from last year will be our biggest priority.”

Stafford said his team’s reaction to the schedule stirred up mixed emotions, including excitement and nervousness.

Stafford said thanks to this schedule, CMU is making a statement, and the team will be well-prepared in the fall.

Preparation for the fall begins now, as Stafford is putting his team through some unique training.

“There are different aspects to their training program this year,” Stafford said. “One of the things is they’ve each been assigned a team in the European championships this summer. They will provide tactical analysis of the tournament. It will be pretty cool to hear their views.”

2012 schedule

Friday, Aug. 17 at Detroit, 3 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 19 vs. Evansville, 1 p.m.

Penn State Invitational (State College, Pa.)
Friday, Aug. 24 vs. West Virginia, 5 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 26 vs. Penn State, 2:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 31 at Dayton, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Sep. 3 at Marquette, 2 p.m.
Friday, Sep. 7 at Texas State, TBA
Sunday, Sep. 09 at Texas A&M, 2 p.m.
Wednesday, Sep. 12 at Purdue, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sep. 21 vs. Kent State, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sep. 23 vs. Ohio, 2:30 p.m.
Friday, Sep. 28 at Western Michigan, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Sep. 30 at Eastern Michigan, 1 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 5 at Toledo, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 7 at Northern Illinois, 1 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 12 vs. Akron, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 14 vs. Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 19 vs. Miami, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 21 at Ball State, 1 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 25 at Bowling Green, 3 p.m.

Mid-American Conference Tournament
Sunday, Oct. 28 Quarterfinals at TBD, TBA
Friday, Nov. 2 Semifinals at TBD, TBA
Sunday, Nov. 4 Championship at TBD, TBA