| 08/11/05–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SOUTH ALABAMA ANNOUNCES 2005 SOCCER SCHEDULE
NCAA Participants Birmingham Southern and North Texas Highlight
Schedule
CONTACT:
Kit Strief
MOBILE,
Ala. - South Alabama head women's soccer coach Mike Varga
announced the 2005 soccer women's schedule, Thursday. The slate
includes 10-home games and three tournaments, two of which are at
The
Cage. USA will host the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Nov.
2-5
for the second time since the 2002 season.
"This is
a good schedule for us this year," Varga said. "We open
with
Birmingham Southern, a team that made it to the NCAA's last year
and
play Toledo, a team beat us in Toledo last year. Our conference
schedule is pretty favorable, but we do go to Denver and North Texas
in the same weekend which always is a tough road swing."
The Jaguars
kick off the season with two exhibition games before
heading into the regular season. USA's annual Alumni Game will be
played Aug. 13 at 7 p.m., at The Cage. USA will face
Auburn-Montgomery on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m., in the final tune-up before
the season starts.
For the first
time in four years, USA will open the season at home
with the KELME Port City Classic, Aug. 26 and 28. The 2005 version
features Birmingham Southern, a team that made it to the NCAA
Tournament in 2004, Toledo, out of the Mid-American Conference,
and
Southeastern Louisiana. USA will face in-state foe Birmingham
Southern on Friday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m., and Toledo at 2:30 p.m.,
on Sunday.
After the Port
City Classic, USA faces a pair of Southeastern
Conference foes as it travels to Louisiana State (9/2) and hosts
Mississippi State (9/4). The Jaguars head to Martin, Tenn., for
the
UT-Martin Tournament where they will face host UT-Martin (9/9) and
Murray State (9/11). USA returns to the friendly confines for the
KELME Jaguar Invitational, Sept. 16 and 18. This tournament has
a
future Sun Belt flavor to it with two current members of the
conference and one that will join the conference in 2006-07. USA
and
Troy join future member Louisiana-Monroe and Southland Conference
member Northwestern State to complete the field.
South Alabama
begins Sun Belt play with a pair of home dates against
Arkansas Little Rock and Arkansas State on Sept. 23 and 25,
respectively. USA then travels to perennial conference powers Denver
and North Texas, before returning home to face Middle Tennessee
(10/7)
and Western Kentucky (10/9). The Jaguars travel to Troy (10/14)
before stepping out the of the conference at Southeastern Louisiana
(10/16).
"It is
exciting to play Troy this year and I think it will become a
natural rivalry for us with them coming into the conference this
year," said Varga.
The Jaguars
return to the conference schedule at Florida International
(10/21) and Louisiana-Lafayette (10/23), before closing out the
regular season at home against non-conference foe Alabama State
(10/30).
USA will host
its second Sun Belt Conference Tournament in three years
(Nov. 2-5).
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