Head women’s soccer coach Scott Davidson reveals their 2024 schedule featuring nine home matches and seven matches set against teams that made it to the NAIA National Tournament last season.
Davidson has never been one to shy away from competition and this season is no different taking on seven teams that made the national championship field last season. The Phoenix will meet last season’s NAIA National Champions, the University of the Cumberlands Patriots, on the back half of the conference slate as well as Truett McConnell, Life, and Bethel, who all made it to the final site. Marian, Georgia Gwinnett, and Olivet Nazarene each made it to the tournament as well with Marian being seeded 10th and an Opening Round host.
Cumberland will open up the schedule with a return match from last season as Baker (Kan.) will travel to Lebanon to kick off the season on August 17. Cumberland will stay at home and take on Blue Mountain Christian on August 20th before hitting the road for the first time to go to Elizabethtown, Tennessee for a match against the Buffaloes of Milligan.
August 27th will be a tough test against Truett McConnell at home. The Phoenix and Bears have matched up the last several seasons with the Phoenix coming out with a thin 1-0 win last year. To follow that, Cumberland will head to Bourbonnais, Ill. over Labor Day Weekend for two contests. The first will be a true road game against Olivet Nazarene on August 31. The Phoenix will take on Jamestown (N.D.) at Olivet Nazarene on Monday, September 2.
The team will return to Lindsey-Donnell Stadium on September 7th to take on Missouri Baptist before traveling to Life University on September 10. The Phoenix and Running Eagles are familiar opponents from Life’s days in the Mid-South Conference. Cumberland beat them last season at home 2-1 and hold a 7-1 advantage in the all-time series history, but last season Life made the national tournament for the first time and made a deep run to the Quarterfinals.
CU will turn around and go from Georgia to Indianapolis to take on Marian University on September 14. This will be the first meeting in program history between the two sides, but will be another tough test. The Knights were an opening round host at the National Tournament last season, but were ousted by Truett McConnell. Cumberland will remain in the area to play IUPUC on September 17th in Columbus, Indiana.
The Phoenix will be back at home for another tough match against Georgia Gwinnett on Saturday, September 21. This will be the fifth meeting between the two teams with the series split 2-2.
Cumberland will open up conference play on Friday, September 27th against Georgetown on the road. Cumberland will meet Campbellsille at home on October 4th. The Tigers have always been a tough match with the last five matches being evenly split with 2-2-1 record.
CU will play their final non conference match of the season on October 9th against Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Cumberland will be on the road for the next two matches as they travel to Freed-Hardeman on October 12th and then a big match slated for October 18th against the defending national champions, the Cumberlands Patriots. Last season, Cumberland and the Cumberland split the season series as the Patriots beat CU at home 1-0 on a penalty kick. The Phoenix avenged the loss in the conference championship with a 2-0 win in Williamsburg.
Cumberland will round out the regular season schedule at home. CU will take on a tough Bethel team on October 23rd and will finish the slate with a match against Lindsey Wilson.
The conference tournament will be played on November 8th or 9th at the higher seed. The No. 1 seed of the tournament will receive a bye and will host the semifinals and the finals. The semifinals will be played on Wednesday, November 13th with the finals scheduled for Friday, November 15th.
Source: Cumberland Sports
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