NEW YORK — The Columbia women's soccer program will officially open its 2019 campaign this weekend, first traveling to Colgate on Friday evening for a 7 p.m. ET contest, before hosting No. 11 Tennessee on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
Friday's game at Colgate will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network, with live statistics available here. Sunday's contest, and all Columbia home games, will be shown on ESPN+. Fans may view live stats for all home games here.
 
The Lions are coming off an 8-7-1 (4-3 Ivy League) season, recording the program's third-straight winning season. Columbia returns eight starters from the 2018 campaign, including a trio of All-Ivy League performers in senior defender Amalya Johnson, junior midfielder Gracie Wall and sophomore midfielder Jessica Schildkraut. Columbia also returns 73 percent of its scoring from a season ago.
 
SCOUTING COLGATE
The Raiders (0-2) will be playing on their home field for the first time this season, having suffered a pair of 0-1 results at Fairfield and Syracuse. Colgate returns all 11 of its starters from a 2018 squad which finished with an 11-4-3 mark.
 
Columbia will look to even the series as Colgate holds a slight 5-4 advantage. The two programs have not met since 2009, where Colgate claimed a 1-0 victory in Hamilton.
 
SCOUTING TENNESSEE
The 11th-ranked Volunteers visit New York City in the second contest of a two-game road stretch, battling against Big Ten opponent Rutgers on Thursday evening. Entering the trip, Tennessee owns a 2-0 overall record with wins over Fordham and Mercer.
 
Senior MA Vignola leads Tennessee in its scoring efforts having net one goal in each of the first two games. The Volunteers have split time in goal between sophomore Charli Pogany and first-year Lindsey Romig, allowing just one goal in eight shots faced.
 
Sunday's matchup will mark the first in the series, as Columbia and Tennessee have never met. The Lions are 2-0 all-time against the current alignment of the Southeastern Conference, owning wins over Arkansas (Nov. 1, 1987) and Mississippi State (Oct. 10, 1999).
 
ON DECK
Columbia will continue non-conference action on Thursday, Sept. 5, making the short trek to the Bronx to face Fordham at 7 p.m.
 
For the latest on the Columbia women's soccer program, follow @ColumbiaWSoccer on Twitter and Instagram, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ColumbiaWSoccer and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.