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Colorado College officially launches its 26th season as an NCAA Division I program this week, playing host to a pair of highly touted non-league opponents at Stewart Field.

CC takes on the University of Dayton, defending champion of the Atlantic 10 Conference, in Friday's 2010 opener at 4 p.m. MT. They return to action on Sunday with a noon contest against Boise State University, which tied for third place in the Western Athletic Conference last fall.

Both Dayton and BSU earned NCAA playoff bids a year ago.              

The Tigers, who have qualified for the Conference USA playoffs every season since joining the league as an affiliate member in 2006, finished second in the C-USA standings with an 8-2-1 mark last campaign. They wound up 12-6-2 overall after suffering a 1-0 loss to the University of Memphis in the semifinals of the conference post-season tournament.

Colorado College enters its first weekend of play ranked ninth in the NSCAA Central Region poll, which also includes 2010 opponents  Memphis (No. 2), Oklahoma State (No. 3), UCF (No. 5) and UTEP (No. 10). Dayton is ranked No. 1 in the Mid-Atlantic Region this week and is among teams receiving votes in the national poll.

Three of CC's top five offensive threats from last season are back, with sophomore forward Brittney Lyman heading the pack after collecting a team-high 19 points (9g,1a) as a freshman. Senior forward Tiffany Brown, a three-time All-Central Region selection who finished as the Tigers' top point producer in each of her first two campaigns, also returns after compiling 16 (5g,6a) as a junior in 2009. Senior midfielder Meredith Smith finished fifth on the team last year with 7 points (2g,3a).

A pair of veteran defenders – senior Sydney Fetter and junior Elizabeth Wright – will serve as team co-captains in 2010 while junior goalkeeper Caitlin Hulyo, a third-team All-Conference USA selection last fall, returns in net.