WVU releases 2012 schedule

The official move of West Virginia University to the Big 12 Conference is quickly approaching.

Thursday morning, the defending back-to-back Big East Conference champion West Virginia women’s soccer team announced its 2012 schedule.

The Mountaineers will open the 2012 slate at home with an exhibition match against Akron Aug. 10, and the regular season will conclude with a road match against Texas Oct. 26.

Eight of the 19 teams on the schedule made an appearance in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

One game to circle on your calendar in 2012 is a trip by the Mountaineers to Stanford to take on the defending national champions.

"We are excited about this fall’s schedule which features several new teams," said head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. "We play a demanding nonconference schedule, highlighted by the defending champions in Stanford. Then we close out the season with eight Big 12 Conference games."

Izzo-Brown and her staff lost six seniors from last season’s squad to graduation, which finished 17-5 overall and 10-1 in Big East play.

This will be the second straight season the Mountaineers will participate in the Penn State Inviational. Last season, West Virginia fell to the Nittany Lions 5-0.

It was the worst loss for the progam since it lost to Notre Dame 5-0 in November of 1998.