By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University has released the 2023 schedules for its traditional fall sports. The schedules are now on the Willamette website for cross country, football, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's triathlon, and volleyball. Schedules for sports that compete in the fall but have their championship seasons in the spring will be added later, along with schedules for the winter sports of swimming, men's basketball, and women's basketball.
2023 Traditional Fall Sports Schedules
Cross Country
Football
Men's Soccer
Women's Soccer
Women's Triathlon
Volleyball
Each of the fall sports has featured events or highlights on its schedule.
The cross country teams will host the 48th Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational on Sept. 30. The event honors long-time Willamette Head Coach Charles Bowles, who died in 2005 after a very successful career leading the Bearcats. Willamette will compete at the Northwest Conference Championships in Spokane, Washington, on Oct. 28 and the Bearcats will battle at the NCAA West Regional in Riverside, California on Nov. 11.
Football will play its first four games on the road, including a non-conference game at NWC rival Lewis & Clark College, but the Bearcats play four of the final six games at McCulloch Stadium. The home schedule includes NWC games against Whitworth University on Oct. 7, Pacific Lutheran University on Oct. 14, the University of Puget Sound on Oct. 28, and Lewis & Clark on Nov. 11.
Men's soccer, which won the 2022 NWC Championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament, will open the 2023 regular season in Georgetown, Texas, to take on Southwestern University. The Bearcats will play two games in San Antonio, Texas, against the University of St. Thomas (Texas) and Trinity University (Texas.). The Bearcats will play 16 games against NWC opponents, including Lewis & Clark, which is adding men's soccer as a varsity sport this year.
The women's soccer team will begin the regular season with a game at Chapman University (Calif). in Orange, California, on Sept. 1. The Bearcats will play at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California, on Sept. 3, before hosting the University of La Verne (Calif.) at Sparks Field on Sept. Willamette will take on each of its eight NWC opponents in one home game and one road game.
Women's triathlon will begin the season by hosting Cal Poly Humboldt in a Splash and Dash on the Willamette campus on Sept. 3. The event will be shorter and a bit different than most triathlons, but it will be the first chance for Bearcat fans to watch WU's triathletes compete on campus. A week later, Willamette will compete at the Best in the West Triathlon Festival near Foster, Oregon on Sept. 10. This year's West National Qualifier will be held in Springfield, Missouri, on Oct. 14.
The volleyball team is scheduled to open the regular season in a tournament at the University of California, Santa Cruz on Sept. 1-2. The event will be held at the West Field House on the UCSC campus and at Kaiser Permamente Arena in Santa Cruz, California. The Bearcats will take on Waynesburg University (Pa.), California Lutheran, Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.), and Hamline University (Minn.) while in Santa Cruz.
One week later on Sept. 8 -9, Willamette will play in a tournament co-hosted by Lewis & Clark and George Fox University, with the Bearcats taking on West Coast Baptist College (Calif.), Schreiner University (Texas), Loras College (Iowa), and Wells College (N.Y.). The Bearcats will play a double round-robin schedule of 16 games against NWC opponents.
