February 15, 2009

NAPERVILLE, ILL. -  The Howard women's soccer program has joined the Great West Conference as an associate member for the 2009-10 academic year. HU joins Delaware State and South Carolina State as new members of the eight-team league. Houston Baptist, NJIT, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah Valley are also in the conference.

With the added members, the Great West will be broken into two four-team divisions - Delaware State, Howard, NJIT and South Carolina State will compete in the East and will play two matches against each opponent, while Houston Baptist, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah Valley will play in the West and will play a double round robin within their own division.  All eight teams will be included into the post-season tournament, which will be held November 6-7, & 9 at NJIT.

"We are glad Delaware State, Howard, and South Carolina State have accepted our invitation to join the Great West Conference as associate members for women's soccer," said Joint Council chair Lenny Kaplan, athletic director at NJIT. "The addition of these three Division I core member schools allows us to establish an eight team women's soccer league, and try a divisional model for one of our core sports."

"We will look to add associate members where we see the opportunity to improve the quality of a given sport while at the same time becoming more fiscally responsible for our members," Grom said. "Women's soccer is a sport where we can conduct conference competition within divisions and reducing missed class time and extensive travel."