2012 Kansas Soccer Schedule Offers Fans Plenty of Opportunities to Watch the Jayhawks

May 10, 2012

2012 Schedule

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas soccer will play 10-straight matches at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex to open the 2012 season, which includes a rematch with Georgia. The Bulldogs ended KU’s NCAA Tournament run last season and are one of six Jayhawk opponents who earned a postseason berth a year ago as Kansas unveiled its 2012 schedule Thursday.

KU will play 14 of its 19 regular-season matches at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex providing fans with plenty of opportunities to see the 2012 Jayhawks as they look to build a resume for a second-straight NCAA appearance. The schedule is also highlighted by meetings with TCU and West Virginia, the newest members of the Big 12 Conference.

Kansas will start the year with an exhibition game versus Eastern Illinois on Aug. 12 before the regular season gets underway with a 10-game homestand. The Jayhawks welcome UC-Santa Barbara on Aug. 17 and conclude the weekend hosting Northwestern two days later. The following weekend UNLV and Georgia come to Lawrence for the Kansas Invitational. KU met Georgia in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament and fell 2-0.

The early part of September will bring a familiar foe in Missouri State (Sept. 7) as well as some new faces in Arizona State (Sept. 2) and NC State (Sept. 9), a team KU will meet for the first time in program history.

NCAA Tournament Elite Eight participant Oklahoma State will visit the Jayhawks in Lawrence on Sept. 21 to open the Big 12 Conference season. OSU, the 2012 Big 12 regular-season champion, finished the year ranked No. 4. KU will then travel to Baylor to face a second-straight postseason team on Sept. 28 and stop at TCU on Sept. 30 for its first ever matchup with the Horned Frogs.

One of the Jayhawks’ toughest weekends of the season begins a week later. A quick stop at home will pit Kansas up against West Virginia on Oct. 5. The Mountaineers won the Big East Championship last season before advancing to their 12^th-straight NCAA Tournament. Two days later KU arrives at NCAA Final Four participant Wake Forest, which ended its 2011 season ranked No. 6.

KU plays its final road game at Texas on Oct. 14, another postseason contender from 2012. The regular-season comes to an end shortly after as the Jayhawks play host to Northern Colorado on Oct. 26 in a non-conference matchup.

The Big 12 Championship will run Nov. 1-3 at the Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio, Texas. Eight of the league’s nine teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament.

All 11 starters return to Kansas for the 2012 season after leading the Jayhawks to an 11-9-1 overall mark last year and its fifth NCAA Tournament berth in program history.