The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Women's Soccer Team Releases 2005 Schedule
4/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
April 28, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The 2005 UAB women's soccer schedule has been made official and was released on Thursday, it was announced by head coach Paul Harbin.
The Blazers, the 2003 Conference USA regular-season champions and 2004 C-USA Tournament champions, will begin their 2005 campaign at Jacksonville State on Friday, August 26 at 7 p.m. UAB will also play a pair of exhibition games on Aug. 14 and Aug. 20. The opponents and times have yet to be determined.
UAB will face six teams which played in the NCAA Tournament last season, highlighted by games versus national powers Duke and North Carolina in the same weekend as part of the prestigious Duke adidas Classic. The Blazers will play crosstown-foe Birmingham-Southern, an NCAA team from a year ago, on Sept. 23 at home and will also play at Alabama on Sept. 9. UAB defeated both BSC and Alabama last season, winning both games away from home.
"As usual, we play a very demanding schedule," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "We have the potential to play seven 2004 NCAA Tournament teams; four non-conference teams from the ACC, Big 12, and Big South and a brand new version of C-USA that had four teams in the tournament last season," said Harbin. "In addition, we play top teams from the SEC and the Big East and we are excited about the challenge."
The Blazers will play eight home games at West Campus Field and 10 on the road. UAB will face Nebraska, an NCAA tournament team, on Aug. 28 on the road in its second game of the regular season. UAB will once again play host to the UAB Nike Classic this season. The event will begin on Sept. 2 at West Campus Field and features Tulane versus Louisville and then UAB against Kennesaw State. Game times are at 5 and 7 p.m. on the first day. Tulane and Kennesaw State play first on Sept. 4 at noon and then the Blazers meet former C-USA foe Louisville at 2 p.m. The Cardinals will be joining the Big East Conference next season.
UAB will play Vanderbilt at home for the second-straight season, as the Blazers face the Commodores on Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. The Blazers begin C-USA play on Sept. 30 as new-conference member UTEP comes to town for a 7 p.m. match. UAB then welcomes Tulane to West Campus Field two days later (Oct. 2) to complete the initial weekend of conference play.
The Blazers will then play five of their next seven contests away from home during the month of October. UAB has home games versus Southern Miss (Oct. 21) and UCF (Oct. 23) and will play Marshall, East Carolina, Memphis, SMU, and Tulsa all on the road. UCF, Marshall, SMU, and Tulsa are all new to the conference beginning next season. UCF and SMU both played in the 2004 NCAA Tournament.
The match at Tulsa on Oct. 30 will be the Blazers' final regular-season contest. The 2005 C-USA Tournament will be held Nov. 2-6 at a site yet to be determined. UAB rolled through the 2004 C-USA Tournament last season in St. Louis, Mo., highlighted by a thrilling 2-1 win over host Saint Louis in the championship match to win its first tournament title in school history.
"The biggest challenge I see is preparing a very young team to compete day in and day out against one of the more demanding schedules in the country," said Harbin. "Fortunately, everyone is one the same page and up for the challenege."
The Blazers advanced to their first NCAA Tournament in program history this past season and defeated Wake Forest, 2-0, in the first round before falling to Tennessee by a score of 1-0 in round two in Knoxville, Tenn.
