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For Immediate Release 22 May 2003
Southwest
Baptist’s Head Women’s Soccer Coach Peter McGovern
announced the release of the Lady Bearcats’ 2003 schedule
which could be touted as one of the toughest in NCAA Division
II.
The Lady Bearcats will open the season at home while hosting
Winona State and Minnesota State-Mankato during Labor Day
weekend. SBU will play Winona State at 11:30 a.m. on Friday,
Aug. 29. WSU finished the season in 2002 ranked No. 9 in the
Central Region. SBU tied Winona State in 2002 on the road,
1-1. The Lady Bearcats will then host Minnesota State-Mankato
at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30. SBU lost to MSM last season,
2-1. Mankato finished the 2002 season ranked No. 4 in the
Central Region.
“I believe our schedule is going to be very tough,”
McGovern said. “Obviously, when you play the No. 1 and
No. 2 teams in the nation, you put yourself out there a bit.
The great thing about playing great teams like Central Oklahoma
and Christian Brothers is that regionally, they don’t
affect us, but they will help us improve our competitiveness.”
SBU will take their first and only road trip for the month
of September to Memphis, Tenn. where the Lady Bearcats will
face the defending national
champions, Christian Brothers. CBU will host the Bearcats
at 7 p.m. on Sept. 2. CBU defeated SBU in 2002, 5-1. The Lady
Bearcats scored one of only 15 goals scored on the national
champions in all of last season.
The ladies will play three final non-conference games, all
at home, starting on Saturday, Sept. 13. The Lady Bearcats
will host Nebraska-Omaha at noon on Sept. 13. UNO finished
the season No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 Central Region.
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, SBU will host Rockhurst at 3 p.m.
Rockhurst finished last season as the No. 5 team in the Central
Region. SBU defeated RU last season, 3-2.
SBU will end the non-conference portion of the schedule when
it hosts Central Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.
UCO finished the season ranked No. 3 in the Midwest Region.
The Lady Bearcats will play seven straight home games to start
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association play before
ending the season with seven straight MIAA away games.
Three MIAA teams were ranked in the regional poll last season.
Truman was No. 3, Central Missouri State was No. 6 and Missouri
Southern was No. 7. Truman was also ranked No. 16 in the nation.
“The fact we play 13 home games this year speaks volumes
about where the program is going,” McGovern said.
The NCAA has expanded the postseason tournament starting in
2003. Each region will have four teams make the field of 32.
In the past, only 16 teams were invited to the national tournament.
“With the expansion of the NCAA tournament this year,
you would like to think the MIAA would produce two teams that
challenge for those positions.”
McGovern believes playing a challenging schedule will help
improve his young team’s competitiveness.
“I am excited about playing one of the toughest schedules
in the nation,” the third year head coach said. “I
didn’t come here to have a winning record and pad my
schedule, I came here to build a program where we are challenged.
If we can survive through this schedule, hopefully it will
make us that much more ready for conference play.”
SBU ended the 2002 season 8-8-3 and 6-4-2 in the MIAA. The
Lady Bearcats finished in fourth place in the conference standings
behind Truman, Central Missouri State and Missouri Southern,
respectively.
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