The Emporia State women’s soccer team released its 2023 schedule Tuesday.
Highlighting the schedule is six matches against teams that qualified for the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Emporia State will open its season on August 31 at Southwestern Oklahoma State. They’ll follow that with a neutral site in Kansas City, Missouri on September 3 against Minnesota State-Mankato.
The Hornets head to Florida for matches on September 8 and 10 against Tampa and Eckerd.
Emporia State’s home opener is September 15, a non-conference matchup against Washburn. The Hornets also play non-conference matches at Fort Hays State (Sept. 17) and host Nebraska-Kearney (Sept. 22).
Coach Bryan Sailer says the Hornets’ non-conference schedule will set them up for MIAA play.
The Hornets’ MIAA opener is on Sept. 24 when they host Fort Hays State, one of five MIAA teams that made the NCAA Division II National Tournament in 2022. Emporia State will have road matches at Northwest Missouri (Oct. 6) and Central Oklahoma (Oct. 22), and a home match on Oct. 13 against Central Missouri, which the Hornets faced three times in 2022.
The Hornets will also play home matches against Nebraska-Kearney (Sept. 22), Northeastern State (Sept. 29), Rogers State (Oct. 1), and Missouri Southern (Oct. 15). Emporia State also has road matches at Missouri Western (Oct. 8), Newman (Oct. 20), Nebraska-Kearney (Oct. 27) and Washburn (Oct. 29).
The MIAA Tournament is scheduled to begin on November 3 with the top four seeds hosting the matches. Semifinals and championship matches will be held in Wichita on November 10 and 12.
Emporia State is coming off a 13-6-5 season where it made its deepest run in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. The Hornets will report to campus on August 13 with their first practice set for August 14. Emporia State will return 10 of 11 starters from last year’s team.
