AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's soccer team will begin defense of its 2012 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national title this weekend when it hosts Alderson-Broaddus College and the University of Maine-Fort Kent in a pair of non-conference tilts. The season-opener against A-B is slated for Friday at 1 p.m. Saturday will feature a rematch of last year's USCAA championship game, as the Wildcats face UMFK at 5 p.m. Both games take place at Dimp Wagner Stadium in Amherst.

Live stats for both of this weekend's contests can be found HERE.

The Wildcats have enjoyed success at Dimp Wagner Stadium in recent years, posting an 18-4-1 record at the facility over the past three seasons. Daemen will play six of its first eight games at home.

Daemen will look to pick up where it left off last fall, when the Wildcats won eight of their final nine contests en route to the USCAA championship. Six starters are gone from last year's team that finished 11-9, but several key players will be back as the Wildcats enter their first season a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC). A solid backline--led by juniors Hannah Fraser (Milton, Vt./Milton) and Meghan Diehl (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) and redshirt-sophomore Meghan Lipinoga (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Canisius College)--remains intact. The unit helped pitch five shutouts over the final nine outings last season. Offensive firepower returns in the form of seniors Alexa Amato (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) and Samantha Engel (Dryden, N.Y./Dryden). Amato collected team Most Valuable Player honors and first team USCAA All-America honors last fall after leading the team in goals (10) and points (22). Engel has 25 goals and 25 assists (75 points) in 57 career games and garnered second team USCAA All-America honors last season.

Daemen and Alderson-Broaddus met for the first time ever last season and the Wildcats came away with a 3-1 victory in Philippi, West Va. A-B is a NCAA Division II institution and a member of the newly-formed Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). The Battlers posted a 13-5-1 record last year and claimed the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conferenceregular-season title. They are picked third in the G-MAC preseason poll. Friday's game is also the season-opener for A-B, which lost four of the top five scorers and the top goalkeeper from last year to graduation. Junior forward Olivia Augustine (Mansfield, Ohio), a 2012 second-team all-region selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), returns up front after ranking second on the team in goals (7) and points (15) last year.

UMFK (2-0) opened the year with back-to-back shutouts against Vermont Tech (7-0) and Holland College (4-0) last weekend. The Wildcats and Lady Bengals met four times last year. UMFK prevailed in each of the three regular-season meetings, before Daemen upset the top-seeded and undefeated Bengals (1-0 OT) in the championship game of the USCAA Tournament. The loss also snapped UMFK's 33-game (32-0-1) unbeaten streak. The Bengals return several key players from last year's squad that outscored its opponents 79-12. USCAA All-Americans Katherine Ferland (Montreal, Quebec) and Kimika Forbes (Trinidad & Tobago) top the list of returning players. Ferland, a sophomore forward, totaled 34 goals and 75 points a year ago, while Forbes, a senior goalkeeper, posted a 0.58 goals against average and racked up nine shutouts.

Follow Daemen College Women's Soccer on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics or @DCWomensSoccer) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics or www.facebook.com/daemencollegewomenssoccer) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.