CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Lady Tiger soccer opens the 2016 regular season today with a 1:00 matchup with Truett-McConnell College at Finley Stadium and Citizens Bank Field.

After a 2015 season for the books, Campbellsville University women's soccer has yet another tall task ahead of them for 2016 and it starts this afternoon.

The Lady Tigers and Bears met last season to open the 2015 campaign and Campbellsville came away with a 1-0 weather-shortened win. It was the second-straight year CU opened the season with a win in the nine-year stint for coach Thom Jones.

The one score came in the 53rd minute as Truett-McConnell was unable to keep an eye on Morgan Danis. She found the back of the net off a corner kick from fellow senior Kathryn Thomas.

Campbellsville kept firing away but was unable to play add-on. The Lady Tigers out shot the Bears 7-1 in the second half with only Danis' score sneaking past the Bears goalkeeper Lexi Kent. Kent finished the match with eight saves, as nine of the Lady Tigers 12 shots were on goal.
 
Campbellsville's NAIA All-American Amanda Howard kept the Bears out of the net with four saves.

Truett-McConnell's Outlook:
The Bears are coming off of a 2015 campaign that saw them take on Reinhardt University in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championship game and finish with a 12-9-1 record.

The squad also returns over half of its goal scorers from a year ago. Led by Abbey Thompson's five goals and Katey Griggs' four. In goal, Truett-McConnell has both keepers back from last season. Sarah Christmas finished the season allowed 11 goals and saved 34 tries. Lexi Kent finished with 43 saves and 19 goals allowed.

Campbellsville's Outlook:
Behind captains Chelsea Gill, Rachel Seals and Amanda Howard  Lady Tigers are looking forward to continuing a precedent that they set last year.

Campbellsville had one scrimmage in the preseason with Bellarmine University, falling 3-1.

Gill scored a new season-high 10 goals last season and is the top returner from 2015. She will be flanked by fellow senior Devon Burnside who is looking for a breakout campaign.
 
The Lady Tigers defense is the backbone of the team, though. Led by Seals, who was an All-Conference performer in 2015, fellow sophomore Taylor Pence and junior Anne Hare, the Lady Tigers will look to make up for the loss of three-year starter Morgan Danis.
 
The diamond waiting behind the back four defenders in goal is junior All-American Amanda Howard.
 
Howard allowed 12 goals last season and had an incredible goals against average of 0.560 – which was seventh in the country. She recorded 125 saves in 2015 and has 258 in her first two seasons.