HAYWARD, Calif. – Cal State East Bay women's soccer returned home this past weekend following its unbeaten interstate road trip to Idaho. The Pioneers will be on the road Wednesday, Sept. 17, against Academy of Art before returning to home turf on Saturday, Sept. 20, to host Chaminade.

"It's nice to come home from a road trip undefeated. We still have much higher expectations for our level of play and we are focused on raising that level," stated East Bay Head Coach Amy Gerace. "We are excited about some of the successes of the past week. However the team continues to focus on their goals and the importance of individual roles."

Most recently the Pioneers are coming off a 1-1 double overtime game at Northwest Nazarene. There is no time to rest flying home on Saturday night and the need to prepare for a pair of unfamiliar opponents over the upcoming week.

"The team did need some recovery time from playing a double overtime game in the heat on a surface much different than their training field. We know that is part of the challenge playing on the road," said Gerace. "The team had an excellent training camp and is fit enough to be effective in those types of games."

Cal State East Bay (2-1-1) will take on an Academy of Art (0-4-0) team in search of its first victory this season. The Urban Knights were tied through 50 minutes in three of their four contests, including a scoreless first half against nationally ranked No. 8 Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday, Sept. 13.

AAU is experiencing similar offensive struggles to that of last year's CSUEB squad. The Urban Knights have been held to one goal in 360 minutes and been outscored 12-1 during that time. They will face a Pioneers defense that has surrendered just two goals in 380 minutes this season (0.47 goals per game).

"We don't take any opponent on our schedule lightly. There are no easy games and every opponent we face this year is a respectable program," commented Gerace.

The Pioneers will be the fifth of six straight California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opponents for the Urban Knights. In the previous meeting between these two squads Cal State East Bay opened its 2009 campaign with a 5-0 victory.

CSUEB will begin a 3-game homestand and play the first of five home matches in six contests against the Silverswords (0-1-0). Chaminade will have played only two contests prior to Saturday's matchup. The Silverswords fell 1-0 to Western Oregon in their season opener and are scheduled to face Hawaii Pacific on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Chaminade is coming off a 2013 season in which it finished 1-15-0. In their only meeting since 2005, the Pioneers earned an 8-0 victory in Honolulu on Sept. 6, 2010.

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