Six NCAA Tournament Teams Highlight 2015 Tulsa Women’s Soccer Schedule

Schedule in PDF

Six NCAA tournament teams from the 2014 season highlight The University of Tulsa's 2015 women's soccer schedule, as announced today by Head Coach Kyle Cussen. The Golden Hurricane schedule features nine teams that posted double-digit wins and one team that concluded the season ranked in the NSCAA top-25 poll a year ago.

The six NCAA tournament participants on the schedule include Mercer, Oklahoma, SIUE, UCF, UConn and USF.

"I think it is a really balanced schedule in terms of the non-conference and conference slate," Cussen said. "It will help us with our RPI, which will in turn help boost our NCAA resume. It is a difficult schedule, but with only losing one senior, we have an experienced team that will be able to handle the strength of the schedule and will embrace the opportunity to prepare us for post-season competition."

TU finished the 2014 campaign with an 11-8-2 overall record, including a 4-4-1 mark in American Athletic Conference play. Tulsa tallied 30 goals, recorded seven clean sheets and had three players tabbed to the league's all-Rookie team, while Rachel Thun was named The American's Rookie of the Year and was selected to the all-conference first team.

Tulsa will begin the season with four home games at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium, including Mercer (Aug. 21), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Aug. 23), SIUE (Aug. 28) and Louisiana-Lafayette (Aug. 30).

Mercer posted 14 wins, claimed the Southern Conference Championship and earned a bid in the NCAA Tournament last season. The Hurricane and Bears have met just once on the women's soccer pitch, as TU picked up a 4-0 victory during the 1993 season.

SIUE recorded 13 wins and played in the NCAA Tournament last season, while Louisiana-Lafayette had nine victories a year ago. Tulsa earned a 4-0 win over SIUE in 1992, and has a 2-0-1 advantage in the series vs. the Ragin' Cajuns. This will be the first meeting against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Hurricane will make the first road trip of the season to Missouri State on Sept. 4, before a three-game home stand against Central Arkansas (Sept. 6), Indiana State (Sept. 11) and Incarnate Word (Sept. 12).

The MSU Bears recorded seven wins, but lost 3-2 (OT) to Tulsa a year ago as TU took a 10-5-2 lead in the all-time series. The UCA Bears had five wins and dropped a 3-1 decision to Tulsa last season to tie the series 1-1. This will be the first meeting with Indiana State and Incarnate Word.

Up next for Tulsa is trips to in-state rivals Oklahoma (Sept. 18) and Oral Roberts (Sept. 20). The Sooners had 10 wins and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, while the Golden Eagles had just four victories last season. TU battled OU to a 0-0 double-overtime tie and defeated ORU, 3-0, a year ago.

The Hurricane will open up American Athletic Conference play with three-straight home games, including Memphis (Sept. 24), SMU (Oct. 1) and Houston (Sept. 4). The Tigers tallied nine wins, including a 1-0 decision against TU last season, and finished second in the league. SMU recorded seven wins, while Houston had only one victory last year.

Tulsa will travel to Florida for a two-game swing, taking on USF (Oct. 8) and UCF (Oct. 11). The Bulls collected 13 wins, including a 3-2 overtime win over the Hurricane, and played in the NCAA Tournament. The Knights totaled 18 wins, won the regular season conference championship, advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament and concluded the season ranked No. 16 in the NSCAA poll a year ago.

The Hurricane will host Temple (Oct. 15) and UConn (Oct. 18), before closing out the regular season with a road swing to East Carolina (Oct. 23) and Cincinnati (Oct. 25). All four teams had double-digit wins a year ago for a combined 47 victories.

UConn registered 14 wins, claimed The American tournament title and played in the NCAA Tournament, while East Carolina had 12 wins and Cincinnati totaled 10 victories. Temple picked up 11 victories last year.

The American Athletic Conference first round and quarterfinal rounds will be played at the top four seeded teams' home sites on Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, while the semifinal and final will be hosted by SMU on Nov. 6 and Nov. 8, respectively.

Six NCAA Tournament Teams Highlight 2015 Tulsa Women’s Soccer Schedule

Players Mentioned

Rachel Thun-Blankenship