TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team and head coach Mike LoPresti unveiled the 2019-20 season schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Featured among the 11 tournaments the Knights will be competing in are three NEC regular-season meets, a trip to Texas and regional events hosted in the Mid-Atlantic states. The team will also host its Alumni Day on Saturday, October 12, at Lodi Lanes from 10 a.m., to 4 p.m. to help kick off the new season.
 
"When creating this season's schedule, the performance over the past two campaigns heavily influenced how it was set up," head coach Mike LoPresti said. "Our primary goal is to advance to postseason play, which includes the NEC Championship and the NCAA Tournament. Recognizing that the majority of our roster has limited or no postseason experience, we have spread out our events for most of the season, going every other weekend until the stretch run. That will give us the opportunity to put more emphasis on each day of competition, and at the same time give us more time to recharge our batteries and make corrections after each grueling weekend." 
 
After going to Monmouth on Sunday, October 13, for exhibition matches, the Knights begin regular season competition on Friday, October 25, in the first of three days in the Caldwell Cougar Classic. The first NEC meet will follow two weeks later, with the two-day event taking place Friday, November 9, and Saturday, November 10, at ABC West Lanes in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
 
FDU then makes a trip to Maryland to play in the UMES Hawk Classic from November 22-24, before competing in the second NEC meet December 7-8 at Colony Park Lanes in York, Pa to wrap up the first half of the season.

"While the Fall semester only has four events, it will be challenging," LoPresti said. "The key for early success is to be competitive during our two NEC meets. The Caldwell Cougar Classic is a low scoring event that will emphasize all of the fundamentals necessary to win NCAA matches. That event will prepare us for the first NEC meet, where every match usually is a battle down to the last shot in the tenth. Then, we head south to the UMES Hawk Classic to play against some the top teams in the country, including the host school, which happened to be the top team in our region last season. Finally, we close out the semester with another NEC meet, right before final exams. We will certainly have our hands full."
 
After a 39-day hiatus over the holiday break, the Burgundy and Blue resume their season on January 17 in the first of three days at the Northeast Winter Classic hosted at the AMF Bristol Pike Lanes in Croydon, Pa., by Kutztown. The end of January into February sees the Knights make their longest trip of the season to participate in the Prairie View A&M Invitational in Arlington, Texas, from January 31-February 2.
 
A week later, the Knights return to Pennsylvania for the Berks Baker Classic from February 7-9 in Reading, Pa., before taking part in the final NEC regular season meet from February 22-23 at Thirty Strikes in Stratford, N.J.

"For the spring semester, it will all be about coming back into the season and getting our players to be in mid-season form and prepared for the postseason run," LoPresti added. "We will be tested immediately at the Northeast Classic, that will include the majority of the top teams in the Northeast region and several top-20 teams. Hopefully, that gets us ready for our biggest test of the regular season, when we fly to Arlington, Texas for the Prairie View Invitational. There we be be pitted against all of the top-10 teams in the country. That weekend could make or break us, but in the long run, it should prove to be an extraordinary growth opportunity for our players."
 
Two more events at Monmouth (Feb. 28-Mar. 1) and in Wilmington, Del., for the Northeast Roundup (Mar. 7-8) wrap up the regular season for FDU. The NEC Championships are scheduled to take place March 20-22 at Hamilton Lanes in Hamilton, N.J.

"Our team should be ready for the stretch run and be able to build momentum for post season play," LoPresti concluded.
 
If the Knights win the NEC, they would qualify for the NCAA Play-In Round scheduled for April 3-5. The NCAA National Championship for the 2019-20 season will be held in Detroit, Mich., at Thunderbowl from April 9-11.
 
Last season, FDU finished with an 82-49 overall record and was ranked ninth in the last National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll of the year. The Knights return all but one bowler from last year's squad and added three freshmen to the team for the upcoming season.