CHICAGO, Ill. – Fresh off an appearance in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament Championship match, the Illinois Tech women's soccer team is excited to announce its 2019 schedule This year's slate features 20 total matches, 12 at Stuart Field, and 11 in NACC play.
The season begins at home on Friday, August 30 at 4:30 p.m. with a contest against North Park University. Tech looks to avenge one of its five losses from last season in the 2019 opener, as the Vikings handed the Scarlet Hawks its first defeat of 2018 by a score of 3-2. Two days later, Tech will play at home against Beloit College in another rematch from 2018. Jamie Griggs scored twice and added an assist in a 3-1 win over the Buccaneers in last season's contest.
Following the opening weekend of two home matches, Tech will play three more home non-conference tilts sandwiched between two away from Stuart Field. The tough stretches of matches features a 13-win team from a season ago in Pomona-Pitzer (September 8 at Stuart Field), a 2018 NCAA Division III Tournament qualifier in Knox College (September 15 at Stuart Field), and a road trip to Carnegie Mellon (September 22).
The start of conference play does not get any easier for the Scarlet Hawks, as the most difficult portion of the season continues with the NACC opener on Wednesday, September 25 at Dominican University. The Stars are the defending conference regular season and tournament champions, defeating the Scarlet Hawks 1-0 in overtime in last season's conference tournament title match.
Succeeding the match against the Stars, the Scarlet Hawks will play three straight home and three straight road NACC contests. This stretch of games features 2018 NACC Tournament qualifier MSOE (October 5 at Stuart Field) and a trip to nearby Benedictine University (October 8). The Scarlet Hawks will then play both Concordia's: hosting the Chicago Cougars (October 16) and traveling to the Wisconsin Falcons (October 19).
A stretch of three home matches in four days follows. In between NACC foes Lakeland (October 23) and Alverno (October 26) awaits the annual contest against national powerhouse University of Chicago (October 24). The Maroons reached the NCAA Division III Tournament last season for the sixth consecutive year. Following the match against the Maroons, the regular season will close out on Wednesday, October 30 at Marian University.
The top six teams in the NACC will qualify for the team's postseason tournament, which determines who gets the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. This year's tournament will begin on Sunday, November 3 and go through Saturday, November 9. In addition to the regular season schedule, the Scarlet Hawks will also play home scrimmages against Robert Morris (August 19) and Purdue Northwest (August 26).
After a 16-5-1 overall and 9-2 NACC season of 2018, women's soccer looks to take the program to an even higher level this season. You'll have a way to follow all of the action, as Illinois Tech will provide live audio, video, and stats of all home regular season matches.