McNeese announces 2021 women’s soccer schedule

LAKE CHARLES — McNeese women’s soccer head coach Drew Fitzgerald has announced the 2021 schedule for the upcoming fall and its one that features 19 regular season contests including 11 home games and one exhibition contest.

McNeese will open the season with seven of its first nine games being played at Cowgirl Field and will start the season with three consecutive home games following and exhibition game against UL-Lafayette.

The Cowgirls will open the regular season against Jackson State on Aug. 19 followed by games against Houston (Aug. 22), and Louisiana Tech (Aug. 27).

“We are pretty happy with how the schedule turned out,” said head coach Drew Fitzgerald. “I was excited to be able to get us 20 total matches. The week where we play five matches in 11 days will be trying, but it also gives us an opportunity work through some adversity and prove who we are.

“We are particularly excited about our matches against Houston and Louisiana Tech as those are games that we’ll have to be at our best to get a result. Traveling to Sam Houston will be familiar territory, but it’s going to be interesting playing the match as a non-conference game for the first time. Prairie View and Jackson State both had good seasons last year with Jackson State battling to the semifinals of their conference tournament and giving the eventual champs a good game, so we expect those games to be battles.”

The Southland Conference schedule will be a little different this season as teams will play each other at home and on the road.

“Due to the changes in our conference we had to scramble a bit. The new conference schedule, where we play each team at home and on the road will make for a really interesting conference season where no one has any real scheduling advantages.”

McNeese will open the conference part of the schedule at home against Nicholls on Sept. 10 and Southeastern La. on Sept. 12. The Cowgirls will then play five of its next six games on the road at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sept. 17), at Incarnate Word (Sept. 19), and at Houston Baptist (Sept. 23). A Sept. 26 game against Northwestern State will bring the Cowgirls back home briefly before they hit the road again at Southeastern La. (Oct. 8), and at Nicholls (Oct. 10).

The Cowgirls will close out the regular season with three of their final four games at home. McNeese will host Incarnate Word (Oct. 15), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Oct. 17), and Houston Baptist (Oct. 22) before concluding the regular season at Northwestern State on Oct. 29.

The Southland Conference Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 3-7 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Last season, the 2020 season became the 2021 spring season after play in the fall was moved to the spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Hurricanes Laura and Delta damages to Cowgirl Field.

McNeese finished the year 3-7-1 in an abbreviated 11-game season where the Cowgirls lost six games by one goal.

The Cowgirls will return 24 players that were on the 2020-21 spring roster when the team begins practice August 3.

2021 MCNEESE WOMEN’S SOCCER SCHEDULE
AUG. 13 UL-LAFAYETTE (EXHIBITION)
AUG. 19 JACKSON STATE
AUG. 22 HOUSTON
AUG. 27 LOUISIANA TECH
Aug. 29 at Sam Houston
AUG. 31 SOUTHERN
SEPT. 3 ALCORN STATE
Sept. 5 at PriarieView
SEPT. 10 *NICHOLLS
SEPT. 12 * SOUTHEASTERN LA.
Sept. 17 *at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sept. 19 *at Incarnate Word
Sept. 23 *at Houston Baptist
SEPT. 26 *NORTHWESTERN STATE
Oct. 8 *at Southeastern La.
Oct. 10 *at Nicholls
OCT. 15 *INCARNATE WORD
OCT. 17 *TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
OCT. 22 * HOUSTON BAPTIST
Oct. 29 *at Northwestern State
NOV. 3-7 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT (CORPUS CHRISTI, TX.)

*-Southland Conference Game