Maryland women’s soccer announced Monday its schedule for the team’s second season under coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer, featuring a nonconference slate of primarily local opponents and four Big Ten matchups against teams in last season’s NCAA tournament.
The Terps will open their campaign with a new opponent for the first time in three seasons, hosting American on Aug. 17.
Maryland will then travel to Gainesville and take on Florida in its first matchup against an SEC opponent since 2019.
Nemzer’s squad then moves onto an array of local opponents, including home matches against Navy, Towson and George Mason and back-to-back away games in Virginia against James Madison on Aug. 27 and VCU on Aug. 31.
The Terps will travel to Binghamton for their final nonconference match before the beginning of a 10-game Big Ten slate.
[Maryland women’s soccer looks to build on coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer’s inaugural season]
Maryland broke a 24-game losing streak against Big Ten opponents — the second-longest run of the sort in conference history — in Nemzer’s first Big Ten game as head coach, a 1-0 win over Michigan last year.
The Terps ended the 2022 season 11th in conference standings and missed out on a third-straight Big Ten tournament. But Nemzer guided them to their best conference record since 2019 in her inaugural season.
Maryland will take on four Big Ten teams that made last year’s NCAA tournament, starting with the defending Big Ten tournament champions in Penn State on Sept. 17.
Home games against Ohio State and Rutgers, as well as a road trip to defending Big Ten regular season champion Michigan State, are the Terps’ other challenges against teams in last year’s national tournament.
Maryland will close out next season with a pair of home games — two of nine total — against Wisconsin on Oct. 19 and Indiana on Oct. 22. The Terps’ first conference top-eight finish since 2019 would secure Maryland its first postseason appearance under Nemzer.
