Nebraska Soccer Announces Inaugural Big Ten Schedule

Lincoln - The Nebraska soccer program has announced its 2011 schedule, which will mark its inaugural year in the Big Ten Conference. The Huskers will host 10 home games, beginning Aug. 19 when national power North Carolina comes to Lincoln for the season opener.

Nebraska will be facing a challenging conference, as the Big Ten qualified six teams for last year's NCAA Tournament, the most by the league since 2002. A total of nine opponents on the 2011 schedule reached the postseason, including six who advanced past the first round. The Huskers will start competition by traveling to defending national champion Notre Dame for an exhibition contest Aug. 9.

"The 2011 schedule is a challenging one," head coach John Walker said. "We will be strongly tested in the non-conference part with some of the top teams in the ACC, Big 12 and SEC Conferences, along with a perennial NCAA Tournament team in Denver. Opening the season with an exhibition game at Notre Dame will give us a good idea of where we are at in training camp, and beginning the regular season against North Carolina will provide us with another barometer. Every game in the Big Ten will be highly competitive and we look forward to being a part of the conference "

The 11-game league portion of the schedule features six home games, including Northwestern on Sept. 18, which will mark the first Big Ten event in University of Nebraska history. After traveling to the Hoosier State to take on Purdue and Indiana, the Huskers will host three straight home games against Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin. In mid-October, Nebraska heads east to take on NCAA Tournament qualifiers Penn State and Ohio State, who shared the 2010 league title. The Buckeyes were two wins away from the national title last year, reaching the NCAA College Cup before being ousted by eventual champion Notre Dame.

Nebraska will round out the season with home games against Iowa and Illinois before traveling to Minnesota, a 2010 NCAA Sweet 16 qualifier.

The seven-game non-conference slate will be one of the most challenging in recent history. North Carolina, a 21-time national champion, will be the season opener Aug. 19 at the Nebraska Soccer Field, marking the first time the Huskers and Tar Heels have faced off since 2004. Opening weekend will also feature a home game against familiar foe Baylor, before traveling to Denver, the defending Sun Belt Conference champion, for its first regular season road game. Nebraska will return home to face SEC opponent Arkansas and Northern Arizona of the Big Sky Conference, before rounding out the non-conference slate with a trip to Blacksburg, Va., to take on Virginia Tech and Wake Forest in the Virginia Tech Classic.

Nebraska finished third in its last year in the Big 12 Conference last fall, recording a 13-7-1 overall mark with a 5-3-2 league record. The Huskers bring back a pair of all-conference forwards in Morgan Marlborough and Jordan Jackson. A total of eight starters return from the 2010 squad.

2011 Schedule	(All Times Central)
Aug. 9 (Exh.)	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	11 a.m.
Aug. 12 (Exh.)	South Dakota State	Brookings, S.D.	6 p.m.
Aug. 19	North Carolina*	Nebraska Soccer Field	6 p.m.
Aug. 21	Baylor	Nebraska Soccer Field	1 p.m.
Aug. 25	Denver	Denver, Colo.	8 p.m.
Sept. 2	Arkansas	Nebraska Soccer Field	5 p.m.
Sept. 4	Northern Arizona	Nebraska Soccer Field	12:30 p.m.
Sept. 9	Virginia Tech*	Blacksburg, Va.	6:30 p.m.
Sept. 11	Wake Forest*	Blacksburg, Va.	10:30 a.m.
Sept. 18	Northwestern	Nebraska Soccer Field	1 p.m.
Sept. 23	Purdue	West Lafayette, Ind.	6 p.m.
Sept. 25	Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	Noon
Sept. 30	Michigan State	Nebraska Soccer Field	4:30 p.m.
Oct. 2	Michigan*	Nebraska Soccer Field	1 p.m.
Oct. 7	Wisconsin*	Nebraska Soccer Field	4 p.m.
Oct. 14	Penn State*	State College, Pa.	TBA
Oct. 16	Ohio State*	Columbus, Ohio	Noon
Oct. 20	Iowa	Nebraska Soccer Field	4 p.m.
Oct. 23	Illinois*	Nebraska Soccer Field	1 p.m.
Oct. 28	Minnesota*	Minneapolis, Minn.	7 p.m.
Nov. 2-6	Big Ten Tournament	Evanston, Ill.	TBA

*Indicates 2010 NCAA Tournament qualifier