June 6, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Head Coach Bryan Blitz and the Missouri soccer team announced its 2007 schedule on Wednesday, which is highlighted by matchups with nine teams that qualified in last season's NCAA Tournament. The slate also features nine home contests and eight teams that finished in the NSCAA/adidas National Top 25 in 2006.
"This is probably our most challenging schedule to date," Blitz said. "Our team is up to the challenge of these high caliber programs. To be the best you have to play the best. Our players come to Mizzou to not only play in a strong conference but also to play top non-conference teams. This year's schedule features a diverse mix of teams from different conferences that we're looking forward to."
Missouri kicks off the 2007 campaign at in-state rival Saint Louis on Friday, Aug. 25 in St. Louis and will not hit the field again until Friday, Aug. 31 against Illinois in Champaign, Ill.
The Tigers open the home portion of their schedule on Sunday, Sept. 2 versus Western Michigan and return home against Eastern Illinois on Sept. 9 after a contest at Iowa on Friday Sept. 7.
Mizzou heads out west for the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif., to face host Stanford on Friday, Sept. 14 and perennial power Santa Clara on Sunday, Sept. 16. On Friday, Sept. 21 Missouri hosts Cal-Berkeley at the new Friday night kick off time of 6:30 before facing TCU on Sunday, Sept. 23.
Missouri begins Big 12 Conference action on Friday, Sept. 28 with a home contest against Texas A&M and then travels to Waco, Texas, for a game against Baylor on Sept. 30 and to Lubbock, Texas, on Oct. 5 to face Texas Tech.
On Oct. 12 and 14, Missouri hosts Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, respectively, before traveling to Austin, Texas, on Friday, Oct. 19 to face Texas and Boulder Colo., for a game against Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 21.
Mizzou closes out the home schedule with contests against Iowa State and Nebraska on Friday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 28, respectively, before concluding the 2007 regular season against Border Showdown rival Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., on Friday, Nov. 2.
All home games are played at the Audrey J. Walton Soccer Complex. This season, all Friday home games will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT. Tickets can be purchased from the Missouri Athletic Ticket Office by calling 884-PAWS locally or 1-800-CAT-PAWS.