WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross head women's soccer coach Darren Gallagher has announced the schedule for the 2015 season. The slate will feature a total of 17 contests, including a pair of games against NCAA Tournament participants New Hampshire and Boston University. Holy Cross kicks off the campaign on Friday, Aug. 21 with a home tilt against Siena at 4:05 p.m.

"It's an exciting time for Holy Cross women's soccer," said Gallagher. "We are already looking forward to this year's campaign and relish the opportunity to improve on last year's success. As always, our non-conference schedule will be challenging and serve up some great matches against quality regional opponents. These games, home and away, will prepare our team well for the rigors of Patriot league play."

In addition to the Siena matchup, the Crusaders will play three more non-conference games at home against UMass Lowell (Sept. 8), St. Peter's (Sept. 11) and Bryant (Sept. 22). Holy Cross will also play four non-conference road games at Quinnipiac (Aug. 24), New Hampshire (Aug. 27), Albany (Sept. 2) and Fairfield (Sept. 14).

Patriot League action begins with two road games at Lehigh (Sept. 19) and Bucknell (Sept. 26). The Crusaders then welcome Army West Point (Sept. 30) and Navy (Oct. 4) for back-to-back home matchups, before they hit the road for a tilt at 2015 Patriot League regular season champion Colgate (Oct. 10).

Holy Cross will then entertain Lafayette on Oct. 17, before it heads down the Mass Pike to take on last season's Patriot League champion Boston University on Oct. 21.

The Crusaders conclude the conference schedule with a home meeting against American on Oct. 25 and a road contest at Loyola (Md.) on Oct. 31.

The top six teams in the final regular season standings will qualify for the Patriot League Tournament, which will be held on Nov. 3-9. The No. 3 seed will face the No. 6 seed, and the No. 4 seed will face the No. 5 seed in the quarterfinals on Nov. 3 with the higher seed hosting each game. The tournament will then be re-seeded after the quarterfinals with the No. 1 seed hosting the semifinals (Nov. 6) and the championship game (Nov. 8).

Holy Cross, who finished last season with its most wins since 2000 (10-5-3 overall), returns eight starters and 19 letterwinners to the 2015 squad, while welcoming seven freshmen.

There are numerous ways to keep connected with the Holy Cross women's soccer team. You can follow the team on Twitter @HCrossWSoccer and on Facebook. You can also get the latest news and results on the team sent directly to your e-mail. To sign up for e-mail alerts go here: http://www.goholycross.com/list-signup.

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