Alumni game headlines women's soccer spring schedule

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GREELEY, Colo. – As the weather slowly turns warmer and spring starts to show its face, the Northern Colorado women’s soccer team and head coach Tim Barrera are ready for the spring exhibition season to begin.

After taking a few months off during the winter, the Bears are preparing for their first exhibition game this Sunday, March 6, against a quartet of teams headlined by three in-state rivals. All four of Northern Colorado’s matches will take place inside the University of Wyoming’s indoor practice facility.

The Bears’ day is set to begin with a Sunday morning match against the hosts, Wyoming. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. Later on in the day, Northern Colorado will take on in-state foes Colorado, Denver and the Colorado School of Mines.

“The spring season is a really good opportunity for us to prepare for the fall,” Barrera said. “It gives us a chance to get our younger players valuable game experience and mold the team without our graduating seniors.

“It’s a challenging schedule that includes all of the local Division I teams. Next year we open up the fall season with Denver and Colorado in the first annual Colorado Cup, so it’s good to be able to get a look at those teams now.”

The rest of the spring schedule is highlighted by home matches against Mines, Colorado, Wyoming, Air Force and Colorado College. The annual alumni match, which pits former Bear standouts against the current crop of stars, is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. April 9 at Jackson Field. Admission is free for all home-matches this spring.

Although graduating four seniors, the Bears are coming off a strong 2010 campaign that saw them finish with a 10-6-3 overall record. Their 3-2-2 Big Sky mark was good for fourth place in the conference. Along with the strong team play, sophomore forward Danielle Birdsall was also named Big Sky Offensive MVP and will, along with the rest of the team, be looking to build upon the success of last fall and make another run at the Big Sky.