FAYETTE, Mo. – Central Methodist University women's soccer head coach Dan Schmidlin has announced the team's 2019 schedule. The fall slate will include three 2018 NAIA National Tournament participants and a number of nationally ranked teams. | COMPLETE SCHEDULE
"We are looking forward to the upcoming season. Our non-conference schedule is filled with great opponents. We will have several teams that could come in receiving votes and at least one opponent pushing for a Top 15 ranking," stated Schmidlin.
The Eagles will face two teams mentioned in the postseason edition of the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll before kicking off conference play. The non-conference schedule is highlighted by matches against No. 17 Cardinal Stritch and (RV) Missouri Baptist.
"Two of teams that we play in the non-conference portion of our schedule went to nationals last year, with one of them making it to the final site," added Schmidlin. "It will be great preparation to get us ready for a very tough conference schedule."
The official schedule opens with a five-game homestand, beginning with Jamestown University on August 21st. The squad will hit the road for the first time with a trip to Bethany (Sept. 11) and will host William Woods for their final non-conference game on September 14th.
Central will open play with a home contest against Missouri Valley on September 18th at 5 PM. The remainder of the home schedule will include Grand View (Sept. 21), Benedictine (Sept. 25), Culver-Stockton (Oct. 9), Clarke (Oct. 13), and Baker (Oct. 19).
"Our conference is arguably the best conference in the country for women's soccer and we want to push for another conference championship," stated Schmidlin.
The road portion of conference play will take CMU to Mount Mercy (Sept. 28), William Penn (Oct. 5), Evangel (Oct. 16), Graceland (Oct. 26), and MidAmerica Nazarene (Oct. 30).
The Eagles finished the season in the "others receiving votes" category of the coaches' poll after falling in the opening round of national tournament play. They are joined by MidAmerica in the consideration category. Benedictine was also mentioned in the final poll at the No. 5 spot.
