Texas Women's University

DENTON, Texas (July 27) – The Texas Woman’s University soccer program has announced its schedule for the 2010 season. The schedule features 10 home games and seven match-ups against the team that qualified for the 2009 NCAA Championship.

Prior to the start of the season in September, the Pioneers will head overseas to England for preseason training from Aug. 16-26. The trip will include stops in Arundel, Brighton, London, Worthing, and Boulogne, France. TWU will play four games against the club teams to semi professional teams including Brighton Ladies and Millwall Lionesses.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for these young ladies,” said head coach Fleur Benatar. “We are so excited and have worked hard to make this trip become a reality. We expect this opportunity to be a great learning experience and a great kick start to the season.”

The 2010 regular season kicks off for the Pioneers with consecutive home games. TWU will host Central Missouri in the season opener on Sept. 4 and then take on Rollins on Sept. 6.

The following weekend, TWU will make its first road trip of the season to Colorado. The Pioneers will face Colorado School of Mines on Sept. 10 and Colorado Christian on Sept. 12.

TWU will return home to host North Alabama on Sept. 17 before heading south to Austin, TX to play at St. Edward’s on Sept. 19. The Pioneers will close out the month with two home games against Texas A&M-Commerce on Sept. 26 and Dallas Baptist on Sept. 28.

The entire month of October is filled with conference games for TWU. The Pioneers will start with a trip to Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 1 and to West Texas A&M on Oct. 3.

TWU will return to Denton to take on the new member of the conference, Incarnate Word on Oct. 8 and Angelo State on Oct. 10. The next two games are on the road for the Pioneers at Northeastern State on Oct. 15 and at East Central on Oct. 17.

Three of the final four games will be at TWU Soccer Field for the Pioneers. TWU will welcome Southwestern Oklahoma State on Oct. 22 before playing its final road game of the season at Central Oklahoma on Oct. 24. The Pioneers will host Midwestern State on Oct. 29 before playing their final game of the regular season versus Abilene Christian on Oct. 31.

“After coming off the most successful season in TWU soccer history this team is ready to battle,” Benatar said. “The England trip as well as our non-conference schedule will get us ready for our conference rivals. With the addition of UIW, the LSC is an even tougher and tighter conference than before. Our focus is to take one game at a time and make our way to an even more successful season in 2010.”

The top six teams in the regular season conference standings will qualify for the 2010 LSC Soccer Championship to be played Nov. 4, 5, 7 on the home field of the regular season champion. The Pioneers will be looking to earn a berth in the postseason conference tournament for the fourth time in program history.