NEW YORK — The Columbia women's soccer team makes its long-awaited return to competition on Friday when it travels to Queens to open the 2021 season against St. John's (2-0-0). Two days later, the Lions head out to Long Island for a clash with Stony Brook (0-1-0).
 
Friday's season opener at Belson Stadium is set for 6 p.m. ET. The game will be available to watch on ESPN3. Sunday's game will take place at Stony Brook's Lavelle Stadium at 1 p.m. ET and is available for viewing on ESPN+.
 
Below are five facts Columbia fans should know heading into the weekend.
 
 
#1 | THE WAIT IS OVER
Friday's season opener will mark 657 days since the Columbia women's soccer program last took the field for athletics competition. Columbia's last match was the 2019 season finale, which came on Nov. 9, 2019 and resulted in a 1-1 draw against Harvard. The Ivy League Presidents decided to cancel all athletics competition for the fall of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's been 664 days since Columbia's last victory, a 3-1 triumph over Yale on Nov. 2, 2019. It's been even longer since the Lions last loss, which came 692 days from this Friday's season opener – the loss was against eventual Ivy League champions Brown, 2-0.  
#2 | YOUTH APLENTY
Columbia's roster consists of 32 players, 21 of which have never played in a collegiate competition. By class, the Lions have 11 first-years, 12 sophomores, five juniors and four seniors. Columbia's 23 underclassmen are the most in the Ivy League, six more than Brown and Yale, both of which have the second-most with 17. The Lions also have the youngest roster in the Ivy League in terms of percentage of underclassmen, with first-years and sophomores making up 71.9 percent of the roster. Only three other Ivies have underclassmen making up more than 50 percent of their roster. Yale comes a distant second to Columbia at 56.7 percent (17 out of 30).
 
#3 | CAPTAIN'S CHOICE
Captaining the Lions through the 2021 campaign are seniors Jessica Schildkraut and Kayla Lee. Lee and Schildkraut are two of the most experienced Lions on the roster. Schildkraut started all 32 matches of her collegiate career — 16 as a first-year and 16 as a sophomore — and was an All-Ivy League selection in 2018 after scoring goals in three straight Ivy contests. Lee has played in 30 matches, starting 14, and has the honor of having scored Columbia's last goal, which came in the 2019 season finale against Harvard.
 
When asked about the captains this season, head coach Tracey Bartholomew said, "They know the culture and they know the standard. Their expectations are at a high level and we need that — all these players need to learn from them. They are doing everything they can to help the young players come along, be there for them and show them what it's like to be a good teammate. I couldn't ask for two better people than those two to lead this team."
 
#4 | RETURNING FROM 2019 - BY THE NUMBERS
Columbia returns 44 percent of its goal scoring from 2019, including the team's leading scorer that season in Shira Cohen. As a first-year, Cohen netted four goals, including one in a 1-1 draw at Princeton and another in a 3-1 victory over Yale. Cohen also notably scored Columbia's first goal of 2019 in her collegiate debut at Colgate. The Berkeley, California native tallied three assists for a team-high 11 points that season as well.
 
Additionally, this year's team returns 53 percent of its assists from 2019, including the top two in that category in Jessica Schildkraut and Ally Clark. Schildkraut led the 2019 Lions with six assists and created two as part of a 4-0 victory over Drexel. Three of Clark's five assists came in Ivy competition, helping the Lions to a 2-0 win at Cornell, a 1-1 draw with Princeton and a 3-1 victory over Yale.
 
#5 | SEASON-OPENING HISTORY
Dating back to the program's first season in 1986, Columbia is 14-15-5 in season openers. Since head coach Tracey Bartholomew took over the program for the start of the 2014 season, Columbia is 1-1-4 in its first match of the season. The Lions have played to a draw in each of the last three (2017-19) and won their season opener most recently in 2016 when they routed Iona on the road, 4-0.
 
Friday will mark the first time Columbia has ever met St. John's in a season opener and the first time the two sides have squared off at all since 2012. The Red Storm have won each of the last two meetings against Columbia (2011, 2012). However, the Lions' last win in the series came in their last trip to Belson Stadium, defeating the Red Storm, 2-1, on September 19, 2010.
 
Sunday will mark Columbia's first matchup with Stony Brook since 2017. The two sides are deadlocked at 9-9-3 against each other all-time.
 
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For the latest on the Columbia women's soccer program, follow @CULionsWSOC on Twitter and Instagram, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ColumbiaWSoccer and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.