Women's Soccer schedule released

Women's Soccer schedule released

Auburn, ME - The Central Maine Mustangs Women's Soccer team has unveiled a 14-game regular season schedule that includes new opponents for the non-conference part of their season. Last year's team finished fourth in the Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) which put them into the playoffs for the first time in program history. Their 2-0 semi-final loss to top ranked, undefeated NHTI, who went on to win the conference championship, gave them the confidence and experience they needed to continue to set the bar higher for 2019.  

The season will open on Saturday, August 31st with an afternoon contest, a Yankee Conference matchup against perennial playoff contender University of Maine at Machias.  This will be the first game to be played on the brand new Mustang Turf Athletic Complex and is a critical one for the Mustangs since the Machias Clippers are always a top-3 conference team.  

The following weekend will see a Friday road trip to Wakefield, Rhode Island on September 6 for a 4pm non-conference game against the CCRI Knights, an NJCAA Div I team. The Mustangs will be looking to avenge last year's 1-0 loss to the Knights. A late night return from Rhode Island will require a quick turnaround as CM will host Vermont Tech the following evening in a conference matchup. Similar to where the Mustangs were a couple of years ago, Vermont Tech is a team on the rise, who will be looking to climb in the conference standings this season.  

On Sunday, September 15, the home and home series with Vermont Tech continues with the Mustangs traveling to Randolph, Vermont for a non-conference matchup.  

Wednesday, September 18, will see the Unity College Rams come to town for a 5pm conference game, the first of three conference games in a row and the portion of the schedule that will likely determine where CM will finish in the standings. This is another critical matchup against a team that is routinely in the hunt for a playoff spot and last year the teams split their two-game series with the Mustangs winning the conference game and then losing 3-2 in the final minute in a non-conference matchup at Unity.  

On Saturday, September 21, the Mustang bus heads to Concord, New Hampshire for a conference game against 2018 YSCC champions NHTI. CM will be looking to build on their last meeting with the Lynx, a closely played 2-0 loss in the YSCC semi-finals. 

Tuesday, September 24, should be a fun evening with top rival, the SMCC Seawolves coming to Auburn for a 6pm night game, the third of three very important conference games in a row. You can expect a large and vocal crowd for both sides in this one.  

On Saturday September 28, in an early afternoon home game, the Mustangs will face a USCAA Division I opponent, Bryant & Stratton-Syracuse for the first time ever in a non-conference matchup.   This will be the highest level opponent the women's soccer team has ever played.

Friday, October 4, has the Mustangs leaving on a weekend road trip to New York. The first stop will be at Albany College of Pharmacy in an evening non-conference game. Another high level, first-time opponent for the Mustangs, this is a game they have wanted to add to their schedule for a couple of years. The following day will be the final conference game of the season, at Paul Smith's College in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Following the 11am game will be a 7- hour ride back to Auburn. 

Tuesday, October 8, has the Mustangs traveling to Unity College for a non-conference game to complete their two-game series with the Rams. On Saturday, October 12, the CCRI Knights travel to Auburn for their first time ever to complete their two game home and home series. Tuesday, October 15 sees the Mustangs making their shortest trip of the season down to South Portland for a non-conference game against SMCC. The final game of the regular season on Sunday October 20 has Albany College of Pharmacy coming to town for the first time ever.  

New for 2019 is a six-team post season format with a #3 v #6 and #4 v #5 play-in round on Saturday, Oct 19 (the day before the final non-conference game of the season). The YSCC Final Four will be held at NHTI on Oct 26-27 with the USCAA National Championships scheduled for Nov 7 to 11 in Virginia Beach, VA.

The full schedule (list format) can be found here: https://cmmustangs.com/sports/wsoc/2019-20/schedule