ISU Announces 2007 Soccer Schedule

AMES, Iowa- Sixth year Iowa State head coach Rebecca Hornbacher announced the 2007 soccer schedule on Thursday. The slate features eight regular season home matches, a home exhibition game and contests against eight teams that played in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

The Cyclones will open their season with two exhibition matches. The first will be played at home against Creighton Sunday, Aug. 19. The following weekend, ISU will play Drake, who qualified for its first NCAA Tournament a season ago, on Saturday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. in Des Moines.

“We have two great exhibition games against quality opponents to open our 2007 schedule, which will really help us prepare going into our regular season,” Hornbacher said.

Iowa State will take on another 2006 NCAA Tournament competitor, Oakland, in the season-opener on Sunday, Sept. 2, in front of a home crowd at the Iowa State Soccer Complex.

“We have a competitive schedule that will allow us to battle with strong non-conference opponents, including a number of teams that were NCAA Tournament qualifiers,” Hornbacher continued. “This will show us where we stand early to prepare us for the strong Big 12 Conference schedule. We are looking forward to playing more home games this season and getting some record crowds at the ISU Soccer Complex.”

Iowa State kicks off a weekend of intrastate rivals on Friday, Sept. 7, when its plays host to Northern Iowa. To round out the weekend, the Cyclones take a trip to Iowa City, Iowa, as part of the annual Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series on Sept. 19, the beginning of a five-game road stretch.

The following weekend ISU is at the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 14-16, where ISU will play against Montana, Friday, at 4:30 p.m., and Dayton, Sunday, at 10:30 a.m.

The 2007 schedule also includes a trip to Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 21-23, for the UNLV Tournament. The Cyclones play matches Friday and Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. Nevada and UNLV, respectively. Both teams won their conference tournaments last season and received automatic bids to appear in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Returning home on Sept. 28, ISU opens Big 12 Conference play with Oklahoma State on Friday and Oklahoma on Sunday, Sept. 30. Next, Iowa State will split its weekend between a home match Friday, Oct. 5, against Texas, and then will play at Colorado on Sunday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. Both Texas, who won the 2006 Big 12 Tournament, and Colorado advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

“We have outstanding teams in our conference that did very well in the NCAA Tournament last year,” said Hornbacher. “I am excited for us to open Big 12 play at home with Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. The Texas and Colorado weekend is going to be a tough one, especially since it is a split weekend.”

The Cyclones will play in Lubbock, Texas, on Oct. 12, against Texas Tech, a team who ISU beat 1-0 in Ames last season.

Hosting a non-conference game against Western Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 14, will mark the beginning of the final home stand of the 2007 season. Iowa State will also entertain Texas A&M Oct. 19, and Baylor Oct. 21, before hitting the road to close out the regular season.

ISU's final three conference matches will be played at Missouri (Oct. 26), Kansas (Oct. 28) and Nebraska (Nov. 2). The last time the Cyclones played in Lincoln, Neb., was in 2005 when ISU defeated the Huskers for the first time in school history with a 2-0 decision. Last year, ISU defeated the Huskers for a second consecutive season in a 3-2, double-overtime thriller, in Ames Sept. 24.

“In our conference any team can win on any given day,” Hornbacher said. “We are really looking forward to coming back and proving we are a team that belongs in the NCAA tournament and competing for the College Cup.”

All home games are played at the ISU Soccer Complex begin at 7 p.m. on Fridays and 1 p.m. on Sundays.

Iowa State University Athletics

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