The University of Kentucky women?s soccer team has announced its schedule for the upcoming 2006 season. The Wildcats, who return 19 players from last year and add nine talented newcomers, will play 10 of their 20 regular season games in Lexington at the friendly confines of the UK Soccer Complex.
The Wildcats will open the season on the road as they make the short trip north to take on rival Cincinnati on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. The two faced off last season in Lexington and ended in a 1-1 tie. Kentucky will take on the first of four Big Ten opponents when it travels to Chicago to face Northwestern on Aug. 27 in an 11 a.m. contest.
UK will play its first home game when it opens a four-game homestand as it hosts the UK Invitational. The Cats will face in-state rival Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m. The Kentucky flavor continues as Louisville comes to town on Sunday, Sept. 3, for a 2:30 p.m. match. Wright State will also be in town for the UK Invite which will feature doubleheader action each day.
The Cats will then host two matches against a pair of Big Ten foes as they welcome Ohio State on Sept. 8, followed by a Sept. 10 matchup with Michigan at 2 p.m.
The Wildcats will then embark on their longest road trip of the season, a five-game swing that includes a single game at Miami of Ohio and a trip to the Wisconsin Invitational to take on a pair of 2005 NCAA tournament participants in Madison, Wisc. The Wildcats take on Miami of Ohio, who finished fourth in the Mid-American Conference last season, on Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. Kentucky faces tournament-host and defending Big Ten tournament champion Wisconsin on Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. in their first match of the two-day tourney. The Cats then face the 2005 Horizon League champ, UW-Milwaukee in a Sunday contest slated for an 11 a.m. start.
The road swing continues as the Wildcats open Southeastern Conference play at Arkansas and LSU on Sept. 22 and Sept. 24, respectively. The Cats will return home the following weekend as they host four straight league games beginning with Auburn on Sept. 29. Alabama comes to town on Oct. 1, followed by South Carolina (Oct. 6) and Florida (Oct. 8).
The Wildcats will travel to Knoxville on Oct. 13 to take on defending SEC regular season, Eastern Division and tournament champion Tennessee at 7 p.m., followed by an Oct. 15 match at Georgia. UK will play its final regular season road game when they take on Western Division champ Ole Miss on Oct. 22 at 1 p.m.
The Cats welcome Mississippi State on Oct. 20 for a 7:30 p.m. game before hosting Vanderbilt in their final home game of the year on Oct. 27.
?As usual, this is another competitive schedule. We hope that facing such quality competition in both the non-conference and SEC portions of our schedule will strengthen us as a team,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?Our goal is to get back to the NCAA tournament and if we can succeed and compete with this schedule, then we should be able to achieve that goal.?
