Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Unveil 2016 Soccer Schedule
6/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
2016 Schedule
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - In Peter McGahey's time as the Central Michigan women's soccer coach, the Chippewas have never shied away from a challenge.
They're not about to start now.
Among the Chippewas' 2016 non-conference opponents are schools that represent the Big Ten (Michigan State) and the Big 12 (Kansas State), and 2015 College Cup participants Oakland and Duquesne, which won their respective conference tournaments last season. The schedule was released on Wednesday.
CMU opens with an Aug. 19-21 trip to Pennsylvania, where it will face Duquesne and Robert Morris. The non-league slate includes another eastern trip, this one to New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where CMU will face UMass and, for the first time in program history, an Ivy League school (Dartmouth).
"You're always looking to try to schedule quality competition and expose your team to that level of play," said Peter McGahey, who is entering his fourth year as CMU's coach. "I think you're looking for a schedule that allows us to be competitive and gives us quality opposition, and also a breadth of styles, a diversity.
"You want to develop the problem-solving skills that your team has to learn, and the adaptation to grow and the way to do that is to be exposed to as many different problems and solutions as you can. The more we can expose our team to those types of experiences the better that we can prepare the team for the grind that is the MAC."
The Chippewas' home opener is Friday, Aug. 26, against Youngstown State, and the MAC opener is Friday, Sept. 23, at Northern Illinois. CMU's first MAC home game is slated for Friday, Sept. 30, against Miami (Ohio).
CMU will be tested right out of the chute. Duquesne won the Atlantic 10 Tournament a year ago, and Robert Morris came within a win of earning a College Cup berth as it fell in the Northeast Conference tournament title game.
Senior Day is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 18, against Oakland, which is the defending Horizon League champion.
CMU finished 6-10-3 last season, including 5-5-1 in the MAC. The Chippewas fell on penalty kicks in a MAC Tournament quarterfinal game to Buffalo.
