Five home matches and road trips to fellow 2021 NCAA qualifiers TCU and Alaska highlight the Nebraska rifle program's 2021-22 schedule announced Monday afternoon.
The Huskers, who return their entire starting lineup from 2021, including All-Americans Emily Cheramie and Elena Flake, will have a more normal slate after being limited to a spring semester schedule last season for first-year Head Coach Mindy Miles.
"This season will be exciting since the team will be back into their normal travel season," Miles said. "I am looking forward to getting back on the road with the team. The fall match schedule allows us to get two travel matches with the following week as a home match which I hope will work well to allow rest between travel periods. The spring semester should be fun since it'll be the first time in a while since the team has traveled to Alaska."
NU will open the season on Sept. 25, when the Huskers host Ohio State at the NU Rifle Range. The matchup with the Buckeyes will be one of eight matches during the fall portion of Nebraska's schedule. The Huskers will then be on the road four times in a five-match stretch before closing the fall semester with a pair of home matches against Air Force on Nov. 20-21
The second half of the season features two matches at Alaska Fairbanks, which finished fifth at the NCAAs last season and a home match with Akron before beginning the championship portion of the season.
One change from previous years is the Huskers will compete in the Patriot Rifle Conference, as the Big Ten Conference does not sponsor rifle. The other members in the PRC are Ohio State, TCU, UTEP and Air Force while the 2022 championship is set for Feb. 5-6 in Colorado Springs.
"I am really looking forward to the first season in the Patriot Rifle Conference," Miles said. "The reason the team switched conferences was to better serve our athletes. The biggest advantage is the conference championship can count toward our NCAA qualifying scores and is timed correctly for our athletes to recover from a long season before heading into the NCAA Championships."
The Huskers will travel to the NCAA qualifier on Feb. 19 as they look to make their third straight NCAA Championship appearance. The 2022 NCAA Championships are set for March 11-12 in Raleigh, N.C.
Cecelia Ossi is one of five shooters back fror the Huskers in 2021-22.