NORTHFIELD, Minn. – First-year head coach
Becky Maines and the St. Olaf College women's soccer program revealed the Oles' 16-game schedule for the 2022 season on Wednesday.
This fall, St. Olaf will play five non-conference contests in addition to its 11-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) schedule, with 10 of the team's 16 games coming on its home turf at Rolf Mellby Field. In non-conference play, the Oles will play five teams from the nearby states of Wisconsin and Iowa.
"I cannot wait to get started working with our young women and we have a lot to cover in preseason," Maines said. "Our non-conference schedule is very challenging and will prepare us for the battles that we will face in the MIAC. I am looking forward to seeing this team grow throughout the season."
St. Olaf opens the season by playing four of its first five games at home, beginning with a matchup with Wartburg College on Thursday, Sept. 1. The Knights are coming off a first-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament and a 15-win season a year ago. After that, the Oles host UW-Stevens Point three days later on Sunday, Sept. 4 in a series that has seen the teams split the head-to-head matchups over the last three seasons (1-1-1).
On Wednesday, Sept. 7, St. Olaf hits the road for the first time with a trip to UW-Eau Claire for a night contest before returning home to host St. Norbert College on Saturday, Sept. 10. The Oles and Blugolds will meet for the 16th time in the last 18 seasons, while St. Olaf will play St. Norbert for the fourth-straight fall.
The Oles' MIAC opener falls on Wednesday, Sept. 14 when Bethel University visits Northfield and St. Olaf heads back on the road three days later for a trip to Hamline University (Sept. 17). The team's final non-conference game of the regular season is the program's second-ever matchup with Coe College (Sept. 21) after the teams played to a 1-1 tie a year ago.
After a trip to Macalester College on Saturday, Sept. 24, St. Olaf plays all six of the teams who qualified for last season's MIAC Playoffs over the final eight games of the regular season, beginning with a home game against the College of St. Scholastica on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Following a trip across town to face Carleton College (Oct. 1), the Oles have back-to-back home games against the College of Saint Benedict (Oct. 8) and Saint Mary's University (Oct. 12).
Maines' team wraps up the regular season with alternating home and away games over the final two weeks of the schedule, traveling to Gustavus Adolphus College (Oct. 15) and Augsburg University (Oct. 25) and hosting Concordia-Moorhead (Oct. 22) and St. Catherine University (Oct. 29). The regular-season finale against the Wildcats is St. Olaf's second game against an NCAA Tournament team from a year ago.
