Colorado College should be well prepared for its first season in the Mountain West thanks to a challenging non-conference schedule assembled by head coach Geoff Bennett.

Including an exhibition contest against the University of Nebraska on Aug. 15, the Tigers will face five teams that participated in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, four of which were ranked among the top 28 in the final Division I RPI.

“We’re excited about having a very demanding non-conference schedule,” Bennett said. “It will get us ready for our Mountain West schedule and hopefully a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, since that is the bar this program has now set.”

The regular season kicks off at the University of Northern Colorado in the opening game of the 2014 Colorado Cup. Two days later, Colorado College plays host to the University of Denver in the home opener at Stewart Field.

With the inclusion of Air Force and Colorado State, the battle for the cup now includes all six of the state's Division I programs and will not be decided until after CC plays host to the Falcons in its regular-season finale on Oct. 31.

“The Colorado Cup is a different format now that all six teams are in it,” Bennett said. “Our conference games against Air Force and Colorado State count in the standings, so we won’t figure out who won it until the end of the regular season.”

Another highlight of the non-conference slate occurs the first weekend of September when Marquette University, the University of New Mexico and Weber State University descend on Stewart Field for the 2014 Colorado College Invitational.

CC squares off with Weber State on Friday, Sept. 5, and then Marquette two days later in the tournament finale.

“Not many people know that Weber State made it to the NCAAs and not many people know they did it with the majority of their starters being freshmen,” Bennett said. “They will be very good.

“Marquette is very well coached and I like their style of play. They played the same system that we did last year and that game will be a challenge. With the University of New Mexico being the fourth team, that’s a very exciting tournament.”

A week later, the Tigers play host to Oakland University and Central Michigan University, both of which advanced to the national playoffs in 2012. Colorado College and Oakland will square off under the lights on Washburn Field.

The non-conference schedule concludes with a Saturday-night showdown at BYU on Sept. 20.

“We think the breakdown of home and away games, both in and out of conference, is very good,” Bennett said. “We don’t have a game on our schedule that you would look at and say 'this is going to be an easy game.' That’s what good programs should encounter.

“Ultimately, strength of schedule does not mean anything if you don’t win games. We have a group of players who are coming back next year who have not lost many games. They are used to winning and competing at a very high level, and that’s not going to change.”

Preseason training begins on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

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