Men's Soccer | 8/30/2019 6:57:00 PM

The McPherson College men's and women's soccer teams kick off their season this weekend, on the road in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. The Bulldogs will be playing Saturday in Fort Worth, and then again Monday in Dallas.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs' opponents are the Rams of Texas Wesleyan University, an NAIA school from the Sooner Athletic Conference. On the women's side, the Rams finished their 2018 campaign at 13-4-1, 6-1-1 in the SAC, and were second in the conference standings behind Oklahoma City University. They have already played 3 games this season, and are 1-2 with losses to Mobile University (Ala.), William Carey (Miss.), and a win over Texas College. For the TXWU men, they went 7-9 overall, and 3-5 in conference play in 2018, finishing seventh in the SAC standings. Like the Rams women, the men are also 1-2, losing to Mobile and William Carey, and picking up a win over Texas College.

After a day off on Sunday, the Bulldogs will be back to work on Labor Day, taking on the Jaguars of the University of Houston-Victoria. The women will kick off first again, this time at 11:30 a.m. with the men following at 2:00 p.m. The matches will be played on a neutral field at Richland College in Dallas. Monday will be the first match for the UHV Jaguars, who finished 2018 at 7-6-1 overall, and 7-4 in Red River Conference matches, good enough for a fifth place finish. Their male counterpart had a strong year in 2018, finishing with an overall record of 11-3 and a 9-1-1 mark in the RRAC.

The Bulldog women had a tough year in 2018. A rash of early season injuries left the Bulldog lineup depleted, and they struggled to get the ship moving in the right direction. They finished the year at 1-15-1 overall, and 1-10-1 in KCAC play, their lone win came at home against the Sterling College Warriors. The KCAC preseason poll came out a few weeks ago, with the Bulldog women picked twelfth out of thirteen teams.

For the Bulldog men, they struggled out of the gate in 2018, but came on strong down the stretch. They ended up 8-8-3 overall, and 7-3-2 in the KCAC. Like the women, they too were bit by the injury bug early in the season. Coupled with that was the fact that their non-conference portion of the schedule wat the toughest in the NAIA. They started the year 0-4-1 out of conference, then tied in their first KCAC match with Tabor. They didn't pick up their first win until the fifth week of the season when they defeated Southwestern at home in double overtime. After they got the monkey off their back, they finished the year 6-3-1 in the final ten games of the regular season. They made the conference tournament, but after defeating Ottawa on the road in the opener, were upended in the semi-finals by Kansas Wesleyan to end their season. When the KCAC preseason polls were announced a few weeks ago, the Bulldog men were picked to finish third, two spots higher than they finished in 2018.

For a statistical comparison of the Bulldogs and their opponents this weekend, click on the links below. Be sure to check back at www.macbullogs.com for full recaps of the matches.

TXWU Women
TXWU Men
UHV Women
UHV Men
MAC Women