Colorado College officially kicks off its 35th season of Division I women's soccer on Friday, Aug. 23, when the Tigers play host to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. MT under the lights at Washburn Field. CC continues its season-opening five-game home stand on Sunday, Aug. 25, against Siena College at 11 a.m. on Washburn.
Fans who can't be there in person can watch this week's games against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Siena for free on the Tiger Sports Network (
cctigers.com/watch/) or the Mountain West Network (
http://www.themw.com/index.aspx).
All-time, Colorado College is 23-9-2 in both home and season openers. Since head coach
Geoff Bennett took the reins of the program in 2004, the Tigers are 11-3-1 in home openers and 8-6-1 in season openers. Last year, CC defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 2-0, in its first home game on Aug. 24.
Colorado College returns eight starters and 16 veterans from last year's team that posted a 9-7-2 overall record and earned a berth in the Mountain West Championship after posting a 5-4-2 mark in conference play.
Senior forward
Lucia Costanza tied for the team lead with five assists and was second with nine points last season. Junior defender
Tayla Wheeler and sophomore forward
Jacqui Hand tied for second on the team with three goals and tied for third with seven points.
Junior defenders
Camille Weaver and Wheeler were part of the back line that helped the Tigers rank among the conference leaders with just 18 goals allowed, a 0.97 goals-against average and seven shutouts.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi returns nine starters and 16 letterwinners from its 2018 group that posted a 5-9-3 overall mark as well as a 2-7-2 record in Southland Conference play. The Islanders, who are projected to finish ninth in the Southland preseason poll, prevailed in a pair of exhibition games, defeating both Baylor University and the University of Texas-San Antonio by 1-0 counts. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is led by junior goalkeeper Kyleigh Hall, who posted a 3-5-2 record along with a 1.51 GAA and a .750 saves percentage. The Islander attack features junior midfielders Mariah Ramon, who struck for three goals, and Addison Urbanus, who produced a pair of goals and an assist.
Siena welcomes back eight starters from last year's team that posted an 11-8-3 overall record and a 6-2-2 ledger in the MAAC. The Saints, who were picked to finish third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's preseason poll, return 80 percent of their goal production from a year ago. Sophomore midfielder Emily McNelis led the team with five goals and 11 points, while junior forward Jayanna Monds found the net two times and had a team-best four assists. Senior Taylor Dorado posted a 10-7-3 record in goal along with a 1.03 GAA and .837 saves percentage. Siena, which is making the program's second-ever trip west of the Mississippi, kicks off its season on Friday night at Air Force.
Colorado College is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games at Washburn Field, the program's home away from home. Since splitting a pair of Conference USA games against UTEP in 2009 and 2010, the Tigers are undefeated in their last eight contests (7-0-1) under the Washburn lights. Some of the more memorable games include the 5-2 win over UTEP that featured a school-record five goals by Brittney Lyman, a 2-1 overtime victory against No. 16 UCF on Oct. 12, 2012, a 2-0 victory over the University of Texas on Sept. 15, 2013, in a game that was played in torrential rain, and a 0-0 draw against Colorado State University in the most recent game on Sept. 24, 2017. Stewart Field, CC's primary pitch, is undergoing a facelift and should be ready for games in early September.
Regardless of whether Colorado College plays on Stewart Field or Washburn Field, the Tigers have enjoyed a significant advantage when playing at an elevation of 6,035 feet. Including its 6-2-0 mark at home last season, CC now is 256-59-28 (.787) in 343 all-time matches on its own campus. That includes a 96-30-15 mark (.734) at the two venues during Bennett's 15-year reign as head coach. All told, in 359 home matches played in Colorado Springs since the mid-1970s, CC's record now stands at 268-63-28 (.786).
Next week, Colorado College plays host to Saint Francis University on Sunday, Sept. 1, at 11 a.m. The following week, the Tigers wrap up the first of two five-match home stands with a Friday encounter with Western Michigan University and a Sunday meeting with Army West Point.
