July 18, 2008
2008 Schedule
RUSTON - If Louisiana Tech's soccer team were to pick a theme song for the upcoming 2008 season, Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" would be the most obvious choice.
The Lady Techsters will play 15 of their 20 contests away from Ruston with only five games in the friendly confines of Joe Aillet Stadium, according to the schedule that was released Friday by head coach Kevin Sherry and approved by the Tech Athletic Council.
"With us having only five home games and 15 on the road, we will have to do it the hard way," Sherry said. "When I took over the program last August, I was left with no schedule whatsoever to work with. Therefore, I had to agree to hit the road if we were to find any games."
Despite this setback, Sherry is confident that the Techsters will find a measure of success in 2008 that has not been seen in the brief history of the Tech soccer program.
"With the hard work the team has done in the off-season and the talented recruits joining us, it is not unreasonable for us to set lofty goals for the season," Sherry said. "I am very confident this team will create school history and am very excited about the potential of having a season with the most wins ever."
The good news is that most of the Techsters' road contests will be within easy driving distance. Matches against Grambling State, Centenary, UAPB, and Delta State are just a few of the nearby non-conference opponents Tech will face in 2008.
In addition, Tech may as well apply for associate membership in the SWAC. Six of the Techsters' 13 non-conference contests will come against schools in the Southwestern Athletic Conference as they will face Prairie View, Grambling, Alabama A&M, Southern, Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
The season begins with a trip to Denton, Texas, where Tech will get two games in one trip. The Techsters will get a stern test immediately as they open play Aug. 29 against North Texas, then stay in Denton through the weekend to face Texas Woman's University on Aug. 31.
"The first game of the season with North Texas will be the toughest of the non-conference season in my opinion," Sherry said. "North Texas has won at least 15 games in five straight seasons and the Mean Green have played in eight straight conference title games. They will return eight starters off last year's squad. Along with an experienced group that includes SBC Freshman of the Year Janaye Woods, the Mean Green brings in the Sun Belt's top rated recruiting class.
"With a lot of new players joining the team this year I felt it important to test them out with a tough opponent from the get-go, and they don't come much tougher than North Texas, one of the strongest programs in the South. The lessons learned from this game will help us a great deal."
Following a trip to Cleveland, Miss., on Sept. 3 to face Delta State, the Lady Techsters will play their first home match of the year on Sept. 5 against defending Southland Conference champion Stephen F. Austin, a team that dealt Tech one of its biggest defeats in 2007 in Nacogdoches.
"We have SFA returning a home game to us," the coach said. "The Ladyjacks were participants in the NCAA College Cup last season and are well known as being a top soccer program. We look to improve on our 7-2 loss on the road there last season."
Tech will then play its third game in seven days with a short trip to Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Sept. 9). A trip to Prairie View (Sept. 14) and the short drive to Grambling State (Sept. 16) are just the beginning of Tech's swing through the SWAC.
Following that stretch, the Techsters will travel to southern Alabama for a weekend tournament at Troy University where they will face Alabama A&M (Sept. 19) and the host Trojans (Sept. 21).
"The tournament at Troy will be competitive and hopefully a good tune-up for conference play," Sherry said.
Tech will have a few more non-conference tune-ups with trips to Southern (Sept. 23) and Centenary (Sept. 26) and a home game against Mississippi Valley State (Sept. 28). The non-conference slate will conclude with a trip to Houston Baptist on Oct. 5.
The Lady Techsters drew the short straw this year for conference travel as their two road trips will be the longest the WAC has to offer. Conference play opens with a weekend trip to potato country as Tech faces Boise State on Oct. 10 and then heads up to Moscow for an Oct. 12 contest with Idaho.
Joe Aillet Stadium will get quite the workout with two home games the next weekend. Fresno State (Oct. 17) and Nevada (Oct. 19) make the trip to Ruston, sandwiched around the Bulldog football team's contest with Idaho on the 18th.
Tech will the hit the road again the next weekend for the longest possible conference trip in all of Division I athletics, facing San Jose State on Friday, Oct. 24, before heading out to Hawaii for an Oct. 26 contest with the defending conference champion Rainbow Wahine.
The season concludes on Homecoming weekend with a Halloween night game against Utah State. Tech will have a measure of revenge on its mind that night after being outscored 10-1 in last season's finale in Logan. The following weekend could also be a historic first as Tech will look to make its first WAC Tournament appareance Nov. 6-9 in Reno, Nev.
"I believe this season will be a very successful one for Tech soccer, and I encourage the local soccer community to come out and support," Sherry said. "They will see a brand of soccer never seen before here, which will hopefully lead to the program's first-ever winning season."
