Northwestern University Athletics
World Series Finalist Wildcats Announce 2007 Schedule
11/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Nov. 22, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After playing the eighth-toughest schedule in the nation and advancing to the finals of the 2006 Women's College World Series, Northwestern has put together another top-notch slate for 2007, announced today by head coach Kate Drohan.
The Wildcats have scheduled 27 games against teams that made the 2006 NCAA Tournament field, 25 against squads that finished in the top-50 of the NFCA RPI from a year ago and five against last season's WCWS participants.
Fans back home in Evanston will have 15 chances to see Northwestern at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, beginning with a March 30-31 showdown against Michigan.
The Wildcats open the season Feb. 9-11 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., facing five teams that made the NCAA bracket last year. On Saturday, Feb. 10, Northwestern plays Pac-10 power Stanford before a 4:30 p.m. CT rematch of the World Series final against Arizona.
NU then travels to Las Vegas Feb. 16-18 for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, a tournament highlighted by a Feb. 17 matchup against California.
After a one year hiatus, Northwestern returns to one of collegiate softball's biggest events, the Palm Springs Classic, on Feb. 23-25. The Wildcats will face three 2006 WCWS foes, including a Sunday, Feb. 25, World Series Separation Sunday rematch against UCLA. NU also takes on Oregon State and Arizona State in the tournament.
One week later, the 'Cats fly to Fullerton, Calif., for the Worth Invitational, where they again will play Stanford and Oregon State.
After spring break tournaments at Missouri and Louisville (where NU is scheduled to play California and a rare nonconference matchup with Michigan), the Wildcats return home to open the Big Ten schedule.
Northwestern has three home conference weekends slated for 2007, facing Michigan and Michigan State on March 30-April 1, Ohio State and Penn State on April 13-15, and Iowa and Illinois on April 27-29.
The regular season concludes with a May 3rd home doubleheader against 2005 NCAA Super Regional foe DePaul.
To view Northwestern's complete 2007 schedule, go to the Schedule/Results link at the top left of this page, or click here.
