Women’s Soccer Announces 2024 Schedule

SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s soccer coach Kirk Nelson formally announced the Bears’ 2024 season on Friday.
 
The Bears will play a regular-season slate of 18 games with nine at-home and nine on the road, not including a pair of August exhibition games at home against Kansas State (Aug. 3) and Missouri Valley (Aug.11).
 
“The team and staff are fired up for another extremely challenging season ahead,” said Nelson who enters his third season as head coach. “Our non-conference opponents are top notch coming from very strong conferences like the SEC, Big 12, Atlantic 10, etc. The team has been working hard this spring to continue the growth from the previous two seasons. We are confident going into this fall and we will be well matched against the teams we face along the way. Go Bears!”
 
MSU will open the season on the road with an in-state showdown at Missouri on Thursday, Aug. 15.
 
The Bears will then spend the next two weeks at home, starting with a home-opener against Tulsa on Aug. 18, followed by a visit from SIU Edwardsville on Aug.25 and a rare visit from Saint Louis on Aug. 29. MSU’s final non-conference home game will be on Sept. 1 against Central Arkansas.
 
MoState’s non-conference road slate will include games at Kansas City (Sept. 5), Oklahoma (Sept. 8) and Oral Roberts (Sept. 12).
 
MSU will face a few tough opponents from the Show-Me State in their non-conference schedule with Missouri being the only team to beat the Bears in the regular season in 2023 with a 2-0 loss in neutral-site match in St. Louis. Last season, the Billikens of Saint Louis made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament where they lost 4-3 to Penn State in double overtime.
 
The Bears will begin their final season in the Missouri Valley Conference on the road with matches at defending Valley champ Drake on Sept. 19, followed by a match at Northern Iowa on Sept. 22.
 
After nearly a month on the road, MSU returns to Allison South on Sept. 26 for its Valley home opener against Evansville before hosting Indiana State on Sept. 29. October begins with a trip to Belmont on Oct. 6, a home matchup with Murray State on Oct. 10 and a visit from UIC on Oct. 13 for what will officially be the team’s senior day. Road matches at Southern Illinois (Oct. 17) and Illinois State (Oct. 24) precede a showdown against Valparaiso on Sunday, Oct. 27 at home in the regular-season finale.
 
The MVC Tournament will be played on Oct. 31, Nov. 3, Nov. 7 and Nov. 10 with the regular-season champion hosting the semifinals and finals. The NCAA Tournament is scheduled to begin on Nov. 14.
 
Last year, Nelson led the Bears to a 12-2-5 record with a 7-0-3 record in conference play while leading the nation in goals-against average (.416) and shutout percentage (.684).