The Milwaukee women's soccer program will embark on its 27th season of NCAA Division I soccer (and 33rd overall) this week with a pair of contests, hosting Akron Friday and Northern Illinois Sunday at Engelmann Stadium.

Friday's game will get underway at 7 p.m. and be featured on ESPN3 with Nate Lisko on the call. Sunday, it will be a 2 p.m. kickoff with Matt Menzl on the ESPN3 broadcast. Live statistics will also be available for both games. All links are on the Milwaukee website for stats and video.

Sunday's game against the Huskies will also be "Youth Day". Any youth in eighth grade or below and their families receive $1 admission to the game. There will also be a pregame ice cream social, courtesy of Cedar Crest beginning at 1 p.m.

The Panthers and Zips are meeting for the first time ever on the soccer field. Meanwhile, Milwaukee holds 6-1 mark in seven all-time games against the Huskies, outscoring them 16-to-9 in the series. The last meeting was a year ago, a 2-1 UWM victory. That contest marked the first meeting in the series in 17 years (last prior in 1998). UWM also owns a six-game winning streak in the series.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers open the season at home, carrying an all-time record of 9-15-2 in season openers at the NCAA Division I level and a tally of 13-11-2 in home openers into the contest against the Zips. The team has gone 1-2-1 in season openers the past four years, with a 1-0 victory over Western Illinois in Troy Fabiano's debut in 2015 snapping a three-game stretch without a victory.

ORDER IS RESTORED
The Panthers took care of business, earning a hard-fought 0-0 draw against then-second place Northern Kentucky at the end of October last year to claim the 2015 Horizon League regular-season title. After having its nation-best streak of 14 titles in a row snapped in 2014, Milwaukee was back on top under then first-year head coach Troy Fabiano. Not bad for a team that was pegged eighth in the 2015 league preseason poll.

EXHIBITION SEASON REWIND
Milwaukee played a pair of exhibition contests this year, posting a 1-0-1 record. Just a few days into a return to training, the team claimed a solid 3-1 victory over Loyola, with Kelly Manski netting a goal just three minutes into the action and Lourdes Onwuemeka backing that up with a pair of goals later in the day. Then, in its second exhibition, the Panthers dominated the contest, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Illinois State, courtesy of a goal by Maddie Tetzke with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation. In goal, a trio of newcomers were solid. Mallory Geurts allowed one goal and made one save in 115 minutes of playing time, Lauren Rice was credited with a save in just over 45 minutes of action in the two games and Olivia Davies allowed a goal and made a save in 20 minutes of game time against Loyola.

PRESEASON POLL
A year after returning to the top of the Horizon League and claiming its 15th regular-season title in the past 16 years, the Milwaukee women's soccer team was picked by league coaches to take second in the upcoming Horizon League regular season, according to the results of the preseason poll.
 
The Panthers tallied four first-place votes and 71 points in the coaches' poll to claim the No. 2 spot. Oakland, which claimed the Horizon League Tournament title in 2015, also collected four first-place votes and bumped the Panthers by a single point for the top spot at 72. Northern Kentucky earned the remaining two first-place votes and was third with 64 points. Valparaiso and Wright State were tied for fourth at 57 points, Cleveland State was sixth (41 points) and Detroit seventh (35). UIC (25), Green Bay (15) and Youngstown State (13) rounded out the poll.

School (1st-place votes) Points
1. Oakland (4): 72
2. Milwaukee (4): 71
3. Northern Kentucky (2): 64
4. Valparaiso: 57
4. Wright State: 57
6. Cleveland State: 41
7. Detroit: 35          
8. UIC: 25
9. Green Bay: 15
10. Youngstown State: 13

WELCOME TO MILWAUKEE
There will once again be plenty of chances for newcomers to make an impression in 2016. A season ago, 13 of the 33 players on the roster were making their UWM debuts. This year, 14 of the 34 student-athletes will be appearing in a Panther uniform for the first time. Newcomers earned 19 total starts last campaign, with Kelli Swenson accounting for the large majority of them on her way to earning Horizon League All-Freshman Team honors.

OPPONENTS WERE OH-FOR-OCTOBER
Milwaukee played a dominant month of soccer in October of 2015. The team did not allow a goal in six games, posting a perfect 0.00 GAA in a 5-0-1 stretch. The Panthers outscored the opposition, 8-0. That helped them post a Horizon League-leading 0.69 goals-against average for the season, with now graduated goalkeeper Paige Lincicum finishing with a 10-3-4 record, 0.68 goals-against average, 75 saves and .862 save percentage. She was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week a league-best four times and played a major role in UWM leading the conference in goals-against average (0.69) and shutouts (9). Her 0.68 GAA finished second in the league – and sixth all-time in program history.

JUST 12 MONTHS LATER
What a difference a year made for the Panthers before the month of September was even over in 2015. At seven wins before October, the team had already claimed more victories than all of 2014 (6-10-2). In addition, after just a dozen games, it netted more goals (27 compared to 25) and more total points (82 compared to 79).

SHOW STOPPER
Anna Smalley enjoyed a breakout campaign as a sophomore last season, finding the back of the net eight times overall to easily set a career high and also to lead the Horizon League. Six of those goals were of the game-winning variety, the highest total for any Panther since 2011 and also the highest total in program history for anyone without the last name Hagen (Sarah Hagen holds the top two spots with 11 winners in 2011 and seven in 2010). Even more impressive was the timing of the majority of Smalley's goals. Overall, the team claimed victory in six different contests that finished as 1-0 decisions. Of those six games, Smalley had the winner in four of them.

FULLY LOADED
The offense will be in good shape, with Milwaukee set to return three of the top seven point scorers in the Horizon League from last season. The trio also represent two of the top four goal scorers across the conference.

*Anna Smalley: Her 18 points (8G/2A) was third in the league, with her goal tally first.
*Callie O'Donnell: She finished tied for sixth in the conference with 15 points (7G/1A), while her goal total was tied for second overall.
*Maria Stephans: She also finished tied for sixth place in points with 15 (4G/7A), while her seven assists was a career-high and placed third in the Horizon League.

NEARLY A PERFECT 10
The offense was out in full force against Chicago State on Sept. 13 of last season, nearly reaching double-figures in goals over the course of a 9-0 victory. The goal total marked the highest for the Panthers since the team set the school record with 16 against Western Illinois back in September of 1997. The second-half featured an eye-popping outburst of eight in the back of the net - also the most since the 11 after intermission back in that 1997 contest. The 41 shots also marked the most for the Panthers since piling up 42 against Cleveland State back on October 19, 2007.

THIS GUY IS FAB-ULOUS
Troy Fabiano was named the eighth head coach in program history in early 2015 and brought with him a very impressive resume. In his 17 years at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Fabiano went 222-74-29, a winning percentage of over 75 percent. Fabiano guided Parkside to 16 consecutive winning seasons, eight NCAA Tournament appearances and five Great Lakes Valley Conference championships. He earned three GLVC Coach of the Year awards, and was named the Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2008, 2010 and 2014. In his last season of 2014, the squad went 18-1-3 and earned a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16 before falling to the eventual national champion in overtime.

POSTSEASON HARDWARE
The team had seven players earn all-conference honors in 2015, with a pair of seniors (Kelsey Holbert and Paige incicum) moving on with second-team accolades.

That means five of the seven are back on the field in 2016, including Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Great Lakes Region Second Team selection Cassidy Blanchard, who was joined on the first-team all-conference last year by Maria Stephans.

The Panthers also had four players named to the second team. Callie O'Donnell and Anna Smalley were also recognized for their efforts on the season. In addition, Kelli Swenson was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team and Troy Fabiano was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm.

CATCH THEM ANYWHERE
Milwaukee women's soccer will be readily available for the viewing pleasure of UWM fans this season, as all nine home games will be streamed live on ESPN3. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN3 platform. ESPN3 is available to nearly 116.3 million homes. In addition, contests set to be televised locally by Time Warner Cable SportsChannel should be announced soon.

ON TAP
Week two of the season takes the Panthers west to Madison for an in-state showdown with the Wisconsin Badgers Thursday. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.