CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina Head Soccer Coach Chad Miller today announced the 2012 Catamount soccer schedule.

"Once again we have put together a tough non-conference schedule including teams from the ACC, Atlantic 10, Atlantic Sun, America East, Big East, Big South, Sun Belt and Big South conferences," Miller said.

For the first time in the program's history, Western Carolina will welcome a school from the ACC to the Catamount Soccer Complex when Clemson comes for an exhibition match on August 7. The team will then play three consecutive road matches at West Virginia on August 19, at Charlotte on August 24 and at Winthrop on August 26.

"Opening the season with Clemson in an exhibition at home, and West Virginia on the road, is exciting for the players and should be very good early season test to gauge where we are at as a team," Miller said. "As coaches we believe this schedule will prepare us to be successful in our league with some very good opponents on the road."

The Catamounts host Albany in its home-opener on August 31. Western Carolina will travel to ETSU on September 7 before hosting Tennessee Tech on September 9.

After taking 2011 off from hosting a home tournament, Western Carolina will again Catamount Classic Tournament on September 14 and 16. Campbell, UL Lafayette and Gardner-Webb will be participants in the tournament with WCU facing Gardner-Webb on Friday and Campbell on Sunday.

After the Catamount Classic Tournament, Western Carolina kicks-off Southern Conference play hosting Elon on September 21. The Catamounts will also welcome Davidson, Georgia Southern, College of Charleston and The Citadel to Cullowhee.

"The Southern Conference is a very challenging and demanding league," Miller said. "It continues to get more competitive every year, and to be honest, the pack is very tight and every minute of every game matters. "

The first round of the 2012 Southern Conference Championships will be played at the higher seed's facility on October 28 with the semi-finals and finals being played at UNCG on November 2-4. The top eight finishers earn a seed in the SoCon Championships.

"We are excited about next fall and look to hopefully build on our experience from last year and stay healthy," Miller said. "If we can do that, I think we will have a very exciting 2012 season."