Tuesday, April 11, 2006

, Tenn. (April 11, 2006) - East Tennessee State University women's soccer head coach Heather Henson has announced the Buccaneer soccer schedule for the 2006 season.

In their second year in the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Buccaneers look to improve on their conference record while adding to their non-conference slate of teams.  The Bucs will again spend a lot of time on the road as they take on SEC and ACC opponents.  This year is the first time the Bucs will face Ole Miss and Virginia Tech. 

Coach Henson is excited to play the new opponents.  "We are looking forward to this year's schedule it will challenge our team with the time on the road and against the level of competition that we have added.  Both of these programs are members of arguably the two strongest soccer conferences in the nation," said Henson.

The Bucs will also face up against some very familiar opponents in Radford, Tennessee Tech and UNC Asheville.  "These matches are battles every year and prepare you to handle emotional hard fought matches."  Other non-conference matches will include some past opponents in Morehead State, Austin Peay, UT Martin and Murray State.  "It is beneficial to have these quality programs back on our schedule as they will definitely challenge us.  This year's team will have to learn to win on the road with the number of away matches we have scheduled.  Our staff feels this traveling should prepare us for the tough A-Sun conference."

The first A-Sun match up for the Buccaneers will be a road match against Mercer on Friday, Sept. 22.

ETSU will open on the road in an exhibition match against Furman on Friday, August 18 before officially opening their season on Friday, Aug. 25 when they travel to Oxford to take on the Ole Miss. for a 7:00 p.m. match up.