UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's soccer Head Coach Erica Dambach announced the team's schedule for the 30th season in program history on Thursday afternoon. The Nittany Lions open the 2023 campaign at home against defending national runner-up North Carolina at Jeffrey Field and will challenge eight opponents who participated in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
"I am extremely excited to announce our schedule for the 30th season of Penn State women's soccer," Dambach said. "This program is steeped in history and tradition, and our schedule for the upcoming year provides us with multiple opportunities to build on a rich past while laying the foundation for our future. This team is eager to get out there and start competing against some of the best programs in the country, and I can't wait to see all that we will accomplish in 2023."
The reigning Big Ten Tournament Champion Nittany Lions usher in the program's 30th varsity season against the defending national runner-up North Carolina Tar Heels in an 8 p.m. kick from Jeffrey Field on Thursday, Aug. 17. PSU's season-opening weekend continues on Sunday, Aug. 20, as the Nittany Lions host the NCAA Division II National Runner-Up West Chester Golden Rams in a 1 p.m. fixture. The Blue & White then hit the road for the first time in 2023 to challenge border rival West Virginia at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24.
Penn State returns to the friendly confines of Jeffrey Field on Sunday, Aug. 27, as the Blue & White kick off a five-match homestand against the TCU Horned Frogs with a 1 p.m. start, followed by a 7:30 p.m. kick against the UCF Knights on Thursday, Aug. 31. The Nittany Lions round out the seven-game non-conference calendar against Monmouth (Sunday, Sept. 3 at 1 p.m.) and Princeton (Thursday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m.).
The 20-time B1G regular season champion Nittany Lions open league action at home on Friday, Sept. 15, welcoming Maryland to Happy Valley. Penn State hits the road for the first time in conference competition, and the first time in nearly a month to battle the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Thursday, Sept. 21. PSU makes a brief pitstop at Jeffrey Field to grapple with the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday, Sept. 24, before hitting the road once more to visit the Great Lakes State of Michigan. Penn State will battle the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Thursday, Sept. 28 before taking centerstage against the defending B1G regular season champion Michigan State Spartans on Sunday, Oct. 1 in East Lansing.
Penn State's second half of Big Ten action begins with a Sunday, Oct. 8 match against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Jeffrey Field. The Nittany Lions hit the road one more time in conference play on Thursday, Oct. 12 and Sunday, Oct. 15, as PSU travels to face Purdue and Northwestern, respectively. The final week of league matches sees Indiana make a visit to Happy Valley on Thursday, Oct. 19, before Wisconsin arrives in Central Pennsylvania on Decision Sunday, Oct 22.
Postseason competition begins shortly thereafter with a quartet of Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal matchups over the weekend of Oct. 26-29 at the higher-seeded team's on-campus venue. The B1G Tournament semifinals and championship match will be contested on Thursday, Nov. 2 and Sunday, Nov. 5, respectively, at a championship location to be announced.
The NCAA Tournament begins the weekend of Nov. 10-12, with 32 first round matches slated for the campus sites of higher-seeded teams. Second and third round contests will take place on Nov. 17 and Nov. 19, respectively, followed by the four national quarterfinal matches on Nov. 24-25, all at campus venues. The Women's College Cup returns to Cary, North Carolina, and WakeMed Soccer Park with national semifinal action on Friday, Dec. 1, followed by the national championship match on Monday, Dec. 4.
Before the regular season gets underway, Penn State will also host a pair of exhibition contests at home in University Park. On Wednesday, Aug. 9, the Blue & White will square off against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks before taking on the perennial Big East powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas on Saturday, Aug. 12. Both exhibition fixtures are slated for a 6 p.m. start time on Jeffrey Field.
Penn State will engage in a 17-match schedule in the 2023 season with 11 of those 17 fixtures coming at home in Happy Valley. Eleven home matches are tied for the most regular season competitions on Jeffrey Field in program history alongside the 1997, 2014 and 2018 squads. In addition to North Carolina, PSU competes with a pair of teams who reached the third round of NCAA competition in Northwestern and TCU. Michigan State, Ohio State, UCF and West Virginia each advanced to the second round of the tournament, with Rutgers rounding out the eight Nittany Lion challengers who reached the field of 64 last season.
The Blue & White return to the pitch after a 15-5-3 overall campaign in 2022 that saw the program reach the 500-win threshold and secure its ninth Big Ten Tournament Championship. The Nittany Lions will be led by fifth-year midfielders Cori Dyke and Kate Wiesner, in addition to graduate goalkeeper Katherine Asman. Penn State inked a trio of transfers in the past month, including the nation's defending scoring champion in Rebecca Cooke, an All-B1G midfielder in Rowan Lapi and a four-year veteran center back in Michela Agresti.
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The 30th Season of Penn State women's soccer is presented by the Smeal College of Business.
