May 6, 2008

By Gary Petit

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's soccer team will play the first six games of the 2008 season away from home, starting at the Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) Classic on August 30-31.

The Polar Bears, who return nine starters and 19 letterwinners from its 2007 OAC Regular Season title team, will take on host RIT in the opening game of the tournament on Aug. 30 and will face Allegheny (Pa.) on Aug. 31.

Northern will then make trips to Anderson (Ind.) and Ohio Wesleyan before embarking on a weekend trip to play MIAA-powers Hope (Mich.) and Calvin (Mich.) in back-to-back days. Calvin, the 2007 MIAA Champions, finished the season ranked No. 19 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

ONU will return home for its home opener against the 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference Champion Wittenberg on Sept. 17. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 last season and finished with a No. 15 ranking.

One more non-conference road trip to Denison on Sept. 24 paves the way for Northern's final two non-conference showdowns. The Lady Polar Bears will host Case Western Reserve on Sept. 27 and Defiance on Oct. 1.

Northern will then start its OAC Regular Season Title defense on Oct. 3 when it travels to Muskingum to open conference-play.

ONU will also make trips to Baldwin-Wallace, Heidelberg, Otterbein and Marietta within the conference.

The first OAC home game for the Lady Bears will come on Tuesday, Oct. 7 when they host defending OAC Tournament Champion Capital. ONU will also host Mount Union, John Carroll and Wilmington.

The top six teams in OAC play will advance to the OAC Tournament, which starts on Monday, Nov. 3. Under the guidence of fifth-year head coach Mark Batman, the Polar Bears have made the OAC Tournament three of the last four years.