Women's soccer travels to Davidson for season opener

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – After two weeks of training and exhibition play, the Fighting Camels are set to travel to Davidson, N.C. to face the Davidson Wildcats for the first match of the 2016 regular season. The season-opener is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Davidson's Alumni Stadium.

The Camels most recently played East Carolina in a home exhibition match, a 3-2 win for the Pirates. Redshirt junior Nicole Connolly and redshirt freshman Kylee Arno connected on Campbell's two goals, but a late header goal from ECU in the 88th minute gave the Pirates the victory.

"We had a very productive preseason," said head coach Stuart Horne. "Our training sessions and both of our scrimmages were very positive. We saw some returners and newcomers really step up and elevate our training sessions and game performance. There is still a lot to keep working on, but we are very excited for where we are at this point."

The Camels hold a 1-3-1 all-time record against the Wildcats in regular season play. Campbell most recently hosted Davidson last season, a 2-1 victory for the Wildcats. Senior defender Murita Storey assisted Ashley Clark on Campbell's only goal, but the Camel comeback effort fell short.

Davidson went 7-12-2 overall with a 2-5-2 record in Atlantic-10 Conference play last season. Head coach Greg Ashton is entering his 13th season with the program and has amassed a record of 113-104-27 at Davidson.

The Wildcats return eight starters from last season and welcome a freshman class of 10. The key returner for Davidson is senior forward Ashley Finke, who tallied 11 points with one assist and a team-high five goals in 2015. Junior goalkeeper Becca Ravitz notched 44 saves in 11 matches last season, recording a 1.76 goals-against average for the Wildcats.

"We are definitely looking forward to the start of the non-conference portion of the regular season," Horne said. "We do not have an easy stretch of games before the conference schedule starts, but that is great for us and our team's overall preparation for conference play. It's going to be a very competitive, adversity-filled nine-game stretch going into conference play."

Following the season-opener, the Camels will return home to host the American Eagles in the 2016 regular season home-opener at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 21 at Eakes Athletic Complex. For the most up-to-date information on Campbell women's soccer, follow @GoCamelsWSOC on Twitter.