2019 HBU Women's Soccer Schedule
HOUSTON – On Wednesday morning, HBU head women's soccer coach
Misty Jones announced the Huskies' 2019 schedule which includes 10 home dates.
"We are excited about the fall season," said Jones. "We have nine new players joining us this fall and our out of conference schedule will help get the team acclimate to the pace of the college game and help us to gel together as a unit."
"Our non-conference schedule will be competitive, as always," Jones continued. "We play NCAA tournament participants such as TCU and North Texas as well as the Sun Belt champions, Texas State. We feel it is important that we challenge ourselves early in the season to expose our weaknesses and better prepare us for our conference schedule. We also take a road trip to play Niagara and Buffalo and it's always a great experience to play teams that we have never faced before. I am anxious to see how we match up against our competition."
The Huskies will kick off the 2019 campaign with a pair of scrimmages against crosstown opponents University of Houston on Sunday, Aug. 11 at UH, and then against St. Thomas at Sorrels Field on Saturday, Aug. 17, before officially opening the season at home, hosting Prairie View on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 7:00 p.m. HBU will then hit the road the following Friday, Aug. 30, for a matchup in Denton, Texas with last year's Conference USA champions, North Texas, before heading to the Texas hill country for a Sunday, Sep. 1, contest against the Texas State Bobcats who won the Sun Belt regular season title in 2018.
The following weekend, the Huskies head to the Niagara Frontier in western New York where they will first take on Buffalo on Friday, Sep. 6, before heading over to Lewiston, N.Y. for a Sunday, Sep. 8, matchup with Niagara. HBU's final non-conference games of the season come the next week at home as the Huskies host 2018 NCAA tournament qualifier TCU on Thursday, Sep. 12, before hosting UTSA on Sunday, Sep. 15.
"It has been amazing to watch the growth of the Southland Conference over the past few years," added Jones. "The playing field has really leveled out. While we hope to be top contenders again in the conference, we know the competition will be fierce. Any team could beat their conference opponent on any given day. That's what makes conference play so exciting and unpredictable."
Southland Conference play opens with a trip to Abilene to face Abilene Christian, the defending SLC tournament champion, on Friday, Sep. 20 followed by a pair of matches at Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin on Sep. 27 and Sep. 29, respectively.
The Huskies will then play three-straight at home with Southeastern Louisiana visiting Sorrels Field on Friday, Oct. 4, and Nicholls coming to town on Sunday, Oct. 6. On Oct. 11 HBU will host Incarnate Word as part of doubleheader with the men playing a match right after the women.
HBU's final road matches of the season will come the next weekend when they visit Central Arkansas on Oct. 18 before facing Northwestern State on Oct. 20. Another three-game home stretch will close the regular season for the Huskies with McNeese coming to town on Oct. 25 followed by Lamar on Oct. 27 before senior night versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 1.
The 2019 SLC tournament will be held in Conway, Ark. this season, hosted by Central Arkansas, from Wednesday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 10.
"We graduated five impact players from last season," Jones concluded. "I anticipate that our style of play will vary somewhat as we integrate our new players. We will be young, but we will be feisty. We always come with a fighter's mentality and we look to carry out this season with heart, passion and grit. We will be a fun team to watch."
