Ladyjack Soccer Schedule Set
6/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
June 20, 2006
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Three 2005 NCAA Tournament participants can be found on the 2006 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack soccer schedule, released Tuesday by head coach Jaime Frias. The 18-game regular-season schedule includes NCAA qualifiers Rice and Northwestern State, and the Ladyjacks will meet a third tournament participant - Southern Methodist - in one of two exhibition games.
SFA is coming off its second consecutive Southland Conference championship. The Ladyjacks completed the first undefeated, untied conference run in league history on their way to the 2005 title. Frias hopes the 10-game non-conference slate he put together will help lead to a third straight conference title.
"The 2006 non-conference schedule will do a good job of preparing us to play at a high mental and physical speed," Frias said. "The competitiveness within our conference is increasing each and every year. In order to prepare properly for conference play, we must expose our team to some of the most athletic and tactically sound teams in our region."
The Ladyjacks will open their exhibition schedule with a pair of road games in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. The first is set for Aug. 18 at SMU. SFA will take on Texas Christian the following night in Forth Worth. Both contests are set to start at 7 p.m.
SFA will open the regular season with the first of nine home games on Sunday, Aug. 27. The Ladyjacks host Grambling State, starting at 2 p.m. The following Friday, SFA travels to Ruston, La. to take on Louisiana Tech before returning home to face Centenary on Sunday, Sept. 3. SFA will hit the road again the following weekend, when the Ladyjacks are scheduled to play a pair of games at Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. SFA will meet Oral Roberts on Friday, Sept. 8, then take on OU Sunday. The Ladyjacks will be back at home for consecutive games against Houston and Rice on Sept. 15 and 17 - return matches from a pair of 2005 road games. SFA's final tune-up before Southland Conference play will be a trip to Colorado Springs, Colo., to meet Colorado College and Air Force on Sept. 22 and Sept. 24.
The Ladyjacks will open the newly expanded eight-game SLC slate on the road against Sam Houston State on Sept. 27. SFA will travel to play first-year league member Central Arkansas on Sept. 29 before playing its conference home opener against Texas-San Antonio on Sunday, Oct. 1.
SFA will open a string of five straight games against Louisiana schools on Oct. 6 with a road contest against McNeese State. The Ladyjacks will take on defending SLC Tournament champion Northwestern State on Oct. 8. SFA will close out the regular season with four straight home games - Southeastern Louisiana on Oct. 12, non-conference foe LSU-Shreveport Oct. 17, league opponent Nicholls State Oct. 22 and in-state rival Texas State in the season finale on Oct. 27. The Southland Conference Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 2-5, in San Marcos, Texas.
"The players did a great job in raising the standard of excellence this spring," Frias said. "With eight starters returning from the 2005 squad and a very talented group of freshmen coming in, the 2006 team will be very difficult to break down. I am certain that every player on this team will work hard this summer to meet the challenges the coaching staff has set out for pre-season camp."
- SFA -
