Oregon Soccer Team Releases 2006 Schedule
EUGENE, Ore. -- Defending national champion Portland and 2005 national runner-up UCLA highlight the 20-game 2006 Oregon women’s soccer schedule, which was released Friday. Oregon’s season opener will be Aug. 25 against Long Beach State at Pape’ Field.
The Ducks will play seven games against 2005 NCAA Tournament teams, and 15 of Oregon’s 20 opponents posted winning records in 2005.
"I think the increased difficulty in the non-conference schedule is exciting for us," said second-year Oregon coach Tara Erickson. "It will better prepare us to be successful in the Pac-10 season."
Oregon opens the year with a tough run of California schools, including games against Long Beach State (12-5-3 in 2005), at 2005 NCAA Tournament participant UC Riverside (11-5-5) on Sept. 1 and at Loyola Marymount (6-10-4) on Sept. 3.
The Ducks then return to Oregon for their only two games against non-West Coast teams at Oregon State’s OSU Nike Invitational Sept. 8-10. The Ducks will face New Hampshire (9-8-2) and Iona (10-8-1) in that event.
Oregon plays at Gonzaga (12-4-4), another 2005 NCAA Tournament team, Sept. 15 and wraps up its six-game road trip at Eastern Washington (4-11-3) on Sept. 17.
The Ducks then return to Pape’ Field to host Nevada (11-7-2) on Sept. 22 and Idaho (3-16-0) on Sept. 24 before heading to the Rose City to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule.
Oregon plays at Portland State (5-11-2) on Sept. 29 before the year’s marquee non-conference game at 2005 NCAA champion Portland (23-0-2) on Oct. 1.
"The West is a very strong region and playing those teams will help us in terms of understanding where we rank in the region and what we can expect in the Pac-10," said Erickson. "It’s a challenging schedule, but we have to be prepared for what we’ll face in conference games."
The Pac-10 season gets underway Oct. 6 at Arizona (11-8-3), which made the NCAA’s round of 16 in 2005, and at Arizona State (9-8-3) Oct. 8.
The Ducks then come home for three straight games against Washington (0-17-3) on Oct. 13, Washington State (11-7-2) on Oct. 15 and Oregon State (10-8-1) on Oct. 20.
Oregon faces California (16-4-2), which also advanced to the NCAA’s round of 16 in 2005, and Stanford (10-7-3) the weekend of Oct. 27-29, before closing out the regular season at Pape’ Field against national runner-up UCLA (22-2-2) on Nov. 3 and 2005 NCAA Tournament participant USC (13-6-2) on Nov. 5.
The 2006 season will mark the first time since 2003 that Oregon has played a 20-game regular season. It will also be only the fourth 20-game schedule in program history, joining 2003, 2000 and 1997.
The Ducks were 9-9-1 in Erickson’s first year in Eugene, which marked only the second non-losing season in program history.
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