Titans Open Soccer Season With Four Home Matches
The long-awaited return to competition for the UW-Oshkosh women's soccer team begins in an unusual fashion as for the first time in the program's 28-year history the Titans open a season with four straight home matches.
UW-Oshkosh will play 18 regular season contests in 2021, including 10 at its home venue of J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium. In addition to its season-opening homestand, UW-Oshkosh concludes the year with five of its last seven matches at home.
UW-Oshkosh and its seven Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rivals didn't compete during the 2020 campaign due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which also forced the cancellation of last year's NCAA Division III Championship. The Titans haven't played since a 1-0 loss to UW-La Crosse in the first round of the WIAC tournament on Nov. 5, 2019.
UW-Oshkosh, which previously opened the 1994, 1996, 2003 and 2010 seasons with three-game homestands, kicks off its 2021 campaign Wednesday (Sept. 1) against visiting Ripon College. The Midwest Conference member compiled a 1-2-1 record last spring after posting a 5-11-2 mark during its traditional fall season of 2019.
The Titans remain at their home facility to host Marian University (8-10 record in 2019) of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference on Sept. 4, first-time opponent Bethel University (Minn.) (14-6) of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on Sept. 6, and Lakeland University (3-14-1) of the NACC on Sept. 8. Marian University registered a 4-6 record during its modified 2021 spring season while Bethel University went 2-3 and Lakeland University 2-6.
UW-Oshkosh follows its stretch of season-opening home games by traveling to Iowa for matches against Central College (6-10-2 record in 2019) of the American Rivers Conference on Sept. 11, Grinnell College (7-7-3) of the MWC on Sept. 12 and University of Dubuque (12-5-2) of the A-R-C on Sept. 15. Central College and University of Dubuque tallied records of 3-4 and 6-3-1 last spring, respectively.
The Titans continue their non-conference itinerary with matches against Carroll University and North Central College of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and Lawrence University of MWC. UW-Oshkosh hosts Carroll University (8-6-3 record in 2019) on Sept. 18 before voyaging to North Central College (9-9-1) on Sept. 22 and Lawrence University (9-10) on Sept. 27. North Central College had a 3-0-1 record last spring.
UW-Oshkosh begins a string of six straight WIAC contests at UW-Eau Claire on Oct. 2. The Titans then host UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 6 and UW-Stout on Oct. 9 before journeying to UW-Platteville on Oct. 16 and 2019 league regular season and tournament champion UW-Whitewater on Oct. 20.
UW-Oshkosh wraps up the 2021 regular season with three straight home games, including WIAC contests against UW-La Crosse on Oct. 23 and UW-River Falls on Oct. 30. The Titans also host St. Norbert College (9-8-1 record in 2019) of the NACC on Oct. 25.
UW-Oshkosh has won its last match played against 10 teams on this year's schedule and owns winning streaks of 12 games over Lawrence University, 11 over Marian University and five over Ripon College. The Titans will be playing Lakeland University for the first time since the 2000 season and Carroll University for the first time since 2011.
The top-six squads in the eight-team WIAC will qualify for the league's postseason tournament. The event will be held Nov. 2, 4, and 6, with all matches hosted by the higher-seeded team. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the Division III Championship.
UW-Whitewater secured the 2019 WIAC regular season title with a 5-1-1 record. The Warhawks concluded the season with a 14-6-3 overall record, including a 2-1 overtime defeat to Illinois Wesleyan University in the first round of the Division III Championship.
Trailing UW-Whitewater in the 2019 WIAC standings were second-place UW-Eau Claire (14-6 overall record) and UW-Stevens Point (11-5-3) at 5-2, fourth-place UW-La Crosse (12-7-3) at 4-2-1, fifth-place UW-Oshkosh (8-10-1) at 3-4, sixth-place UW-River Falls (10-10-1) at 2-4-1, seventh-place UW-Platteville (2-15-2) at 1-5-1 and eighth-place UW-Stout (5-13) at 1-6.
UW-Oshkosh returns 15 letterwinners to this year's team, including forward Mallory Knight who earned All-WIAC First Team recognition in 2018 and 2019. Knight has totaled 17 goals and five assists while starting 44 of the 57 career matches she has played for the Titans.
Other starters back for UW-Oshkosh are Mackenzie Bennett, Rylie Kaufmann, Amber Richter and Daphne Sieg.
Erin Coppernoll takes a 167-122-32 record into her 17th season as UW-Oshkosh's head coach. She ranks fourth in the WIAC with her 167 coaching victories. Coppernoll owns a 20-year collegiate coaching record of 191-167-35.
UW-Oshkosh, the 2015 WIAC co-champion, made NCAA Division III Championship appearances in 2006, 2011, 2014 and 2015.