After kicking off the season at home against the Summit League’s University of South Dakota (1-15-3 overall in 2011), the Bulldogs will play face Washington State, Idaho, Boise State, Washington , Seattle, Oregon State and Oregon along with a trip to Tennessee in the middle to play Austin Peay (9-8-1 overall) and Vanderbilt (8-11-0).
Two of the six NCAA tournament teams they will play are preseason opponents. They will play Washington State University in Pullman just two days after the season opener against USD. The Cougars advanced to the second round of the tournament via penalties after a 1-1 draw versus Kentucky, falling to Virginia, 3-0, in the second round.
They will meet Oregon State in the first of two games in the Nike Invitational, playing the Beavers Friday, September 14 in Corvallis and the Oregon Ducks two days later in Eugene. The Beavers were knocked out by the WCC’s University of Portland via penalties in the first round of the NCAA tournament after a 1-1 draw. Portland would lose to eventual Final Four side Florida State, 3-1, in the second round.
WSU and OSU are not the only schools Gonzaga will face that participated in penalty kick tiebreakers in the NCAA tournament. Five of the six needed the tiebreaker to break stalemates. Santa Clara was knocked out in penalties by California (1-1 draw) and San Diego went to the spot twice, advancing against UC Irvine (2-2 draw) and second-seeded UCLA (1-1 draw) before being knocked out, 1-0, by Long Beach State in the third round. Long Beach also eliminated Pepperdine, the only one not to reach penalties, with a narrow 1-0 first round decision.
The non-league schedule includes a preseason home finale against the University of Nevada (3-16-0 overall) and a meeting with Eastern Washington University after the conclusion of the WCC schedule.
GU Release [+]
Gonzaga Women’s 2012 Schedule – NORTHWEST GAMES
Aug 17… South Dakota… 4pm
Aug 19… @ Washington St… 1 pm
Aug 24… @ Idaho… 4 pm
Aug 26… Boise St… noon
Sept 7… Washington… 4 pm
Sept 9… Seattle U… 1 pm
Sept 14… @ Oregon St… 7 pm
Sept 16… @ Oregon… 1 pm
Sept 30… Nevada… 11 am
Oct 7… ^St Mary’s College… 1 pm
Oct 9… ^Portland… 4 pm
Oct 26… ^Loyola Marymount… 3 pm
Oct 28… ^Pepperdine… 1 pm
Nov 4… Eastern Washington… 3 pm
^ conference opponent
Full Schedule [+]
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