April 24, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State soccer head coach Heather Cairns announced Thursday the Aggies' 2008 schedule. USU is scheduled to play a 20-match regular season ledger, including 10 home contests at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. The Aggies will open the 2008 season at Idaho State on Friday, Aug. 22.

USU's schedule includes two teams that played in last season's NCAA Tournament in Brigham Young and Western Athletic Conference foe and defending league champion Hawai'i. The Aggies face three of the top five Mountain West Conference teams from last season in BYU, Utah and Wyoming, while Long Beach State and Cal Poly were two of the top three teams in the Big West Conference, and both UTEP and Texas-San Antonio were third-place finishers in its respective conferences.

"I think we've been able to create a good non-conference schedule that will challenge us and prepare us for conference play," Cairns said. "We're really testing ourselves with teams that are going to be in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament, which is exactly where we want to be."

BYU is the only team on USU's schedule that was ranked in the final NSCAA/adidas top 25 poll last season, with the Cougars being ranked No. 25, but Long Beach State was among others in receiving votes.

After the season opener at Idaho State, Utah State opens up action at home against Seattle University on Sunday, Aug. 24 before heading out West to battle two tough Pac-10 teams in Oregon on Friday, Aug. 29 and Oregon State on Sunday, Aug. 31. USU has never faced Oregon State or Seattle University and the Aggies have only played Oregon once, last season at home, with the Ducks winning, 2-1.

"Utah, BYU and Idaho State are good rivalries for us, so we get to continue the traditions of competing against those teams," Cairns said. "We're also adding some new teams this season like Seattle University and Oregon State and re-adding teams that we haven't played in awhile such as Cal Poly and Northern Colorado. We've got a good mixture of some rivalries as well as some new opponents to give us some fresh competition."

The Aggies stay in the Beehive state for six of their eight matches in September, starting with home contests against Texas State on Thursday, Sept. 4 and Northern Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 6 before tangling at in-state foe Utah on Friday, Sept. 12. USU then hosts University of Texas-El Paso on Sunday, Sept. 14, University of Texas-San Antonio on Thursday, Sept. 18 and Long Beach State on Friday, Sept. 26. Utah State is 1-0 against Texas State and Northern Colorado, while the Aggies are 1-9 against the Utes and 2-6 against LBSU. This will be the first meeting for USU against both UTEP and UTSA.

Utah State finishes out September at Cal Poly on Friday, Sept. 26 and at Wyoming on Sunday, Sept. 28 and then wraps up non-conference action at home versus NCAA Tournament team and in-state foe BYU on Thursday, Oct. 2.

"When looking at our travel schedule in the WAC, we play at Hawai'i on a Friday and the turn around and play at San Jose State on a Sunday. That's a tough travel weekend," Cairns said. "You just hope your non-conference schedule prepares you physically and mentally for a schedule like that, which is part of the reason we play at Cal Poly and Wyoming in the same weekend."

Utah State opens WAC action at home, facing Idaho on Friday, Oct. 10 before playing at Boise State on Sunday, Oct. 12. The Aggies close out home action with Nevada on Friday, Oct. 17 and Fresno State on Sunday, Oct. 19.

A three-game roadstand will close out the season, starting off at WAC Tournament champ and NCAA Tournament team Hawai'i on Friday, Oct. 24, followed by San Jose State on Sunday, Oct. 26 and the Aggies wrap-up regular season action at Louisiana Tech on Friday, Oct. 31.

The WAC Tournament is Nov. 5-9, in Reno, Nev.

Cairns also announced that senior-to-be defender Alyssa Lowry and junior-to-be defender Lindsey Smart will be the 2008 captains, as they were voted on by their teammates earlier this spring. Lowry and Smart were two of five Aggies to start in all 21 matches last season.

Utah State returns seven starters and 15 letterwinners from last season's squad that posted a 10-11-0 record, tying the most-ever wins in the program's 12-year history. Utah State's 5-2-0 conference record ties the previous program-record mark of five league wins set in 2006. This year, USU also set records for most points in a season (114), most goals in a season (40) and most assists in a season (34).

2008 Utah State Soccer Schedule
Date	          Opponent	         Location	         Time
Fri., 8/22	  at Idaho State	 Pocatello, Idaho        4 p.m.
Sun., 8/24	  SEATTLE UNIVERSITY     LOGAN	                 1 p.m.
Fri., 8/29	  at Oregon	         Eugene, Ore.            9 p.m.
Sun., 8/31	  at Oregon State	 Corvallis, Ore.         TBA
Thurs., 9/4	  TEXAS STATE	         LOGAN	                 4 p.m.
Sat., 9/6	  NORTHERN COLORADO	 LOGAN	                 1 p.m.
Fri., 9/12	  at Utah	         Salt Lake City, Utah    7:30 p.m.
Sun., 9/14	  TEXAS-EL PASO	         LOGAN	                 1 p.m.
Thurs., 9/18      TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO	 LOGAN	                 4 p.m.
Sun., 9/21	  LONG BEACH STATE	 LOGAN	                 1 p.m.
Fri., 9/26	  at Cal Poly	         San Luis Obispo, Calif. 8 p.m.
Sun., 9/28        at Wyoming             Laramie, Wyo.           12 p.m.
Thurs., 10/2      BRIGHAM YOUNG	         LOGAN	                 4 p.m.
Fri., 10/10	 *IDAHO	                 LOGAN	                 3 p.m.
Sun., 10/12	 *at Boise State	 Boise, Idaho	         1 p.m.
Fri., 10/17	 *NEVADA	         LOGAN	                 3 p.m.
Sun., 10/19	 *FRESNO STATE	         LOGAN	                 1 p.m.
Fri., 10/24	 *at Hawai'i	         Honolulu, Hawai'i       11 p.m.
Sun., 10/26	 *at San Jose State	 San Jose, Calif.        2 p.m.
Fri., 10/31	 *at Louisiana Tech	 Ruston, La.	         6 p.m.
Wed.-Sun., 11/5-9 WAC Championships      Reno, Nev.              TBA
*WAC Match
**All Times Mountain and Subject To Change.