ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland women's soccer head coach Juan Pablo Favero announced the 2018 schedule on Friday which features nine home matches.

"We are excited about getting the new season started and have a very competitive schedule," Favero said. "Our non-conference schedule has some interesting new opponents as well as familiar foes and our approach is to prepare for each game one at a time so we can perform consistently at a high level. "Once the Horizon League portion starts in September, we will have learned a lot about our renewed roster and our goal will be to make a leap forward in league play."

The Golden Grizzlies will open the 2018 campaign with back-to-back home exhibition matches Wednesday, Aug. 8 against Canisius at noon and Saturday, Aug. 11 versus Valpo at 5 p.m.

Regular season play begins on the road for the Golden Grizzlies when they open up at UMKC on Friday, Aug. 17.

Oakland is scheduled to take on five Mid-American Conference (MAC) schools in addition to Big Ten foe Michigan State Sept., 6 in East Lansing.

"For the fans and our community we have nine home games and we would love to have as much support as possible as we roll out a lot of new things in our program," Favero said.

The Golden Grizzlies will celebrate senior day in the last home game of the season against UIC, Saturday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m.

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