Sabrina Bryan is expected to be a key player for the Hofstra women this year. (Photo courtesy of the Hofstra SID)

Hofstra is set to open the season with three consecutive road matches, including two during a challenging opening weekend at Monmouth and at Penn State, which both qualified for the NCAA Division I Tournament a year ago.

The Pride is coming off another spectacular season in which the team posted a 16-6-1 mark, captured its second successive Colonial Athletic Association Championship, and made its seventh NCAA appearance in program history.

Hofstra returns nearly its entire attack from last season, which ranked first in the CAA in goals. Of the 10 players who scored at least one goal in 2018, the Pride return eight of those players including the top three goal-scorers, as well as 90 percent of its goal-scorer.

Junior forward Sabrina Bryan and junior midfielder Lucy Porter look to continue to dominate, as the duo ranked one and two, respectively, in the CAA in goal-scoring.

Several other key returners will look to boost the Pride, including junior forward-midfielder Lucy Shepherd, sophomore midfielder and 2018 CAA rookie of the year Miri Taylor, junior midfielder Jordan Littleboy, junior midfielder-defender Bella Richards and senior defender Monique Iannella.

The 6 p.m. match between Hofstra and Monmouth will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available on www.HofstraStats.com.

The Pride and Hawks will meet for the fourth time in program history, with Hofstra leading the all-time series, 2-0-1. The last time the teams met was Sept. 10, 2017 with the game ending in a scoreless draw.

Monmouth posted a 16-4-1 record last season and captured its third consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship. The Hawks return a solid portion of its core, including redshirt senior forward Madie Gibson who was voted the MAAC preseason player of the year for the third successive year and also was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. Jill Conklin, Jess Johnson, Sarina Jones, Amanda Knaub, Anna Lazur and Lexie Palladino were all named to the preseason All-MAAC team.

Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. match between Hofstra and Penn State will be streamed live on BTN+. Live stats will be available on www.GoPSUSports.com.

The Pride and Nittany Lions meet for the seventh time in program history with Penn State holding an unblemished mark over Hofstra. The last time the teams met was on Aug. 20, 2017 when Penn State defeated the Pride, 3-0.

The toughest test of the season for the Pride will arguably come against the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions, who are coming off an 18-6-1 season while reaching the NCAA quarterfinals. Penn State was selected as the preseason choice to win the Big Ten Conference, while Kaleigh Riehl, Ellie Jean and Amanda Dennis gathered conference preseason honors. Riehl, Sam Coffey and Frankie Tagliaferri have been named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.

Hofstra will continue into week two with a matchup at Brown Friday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. The home opener will take place against Fordham University Sunday, Sept. 1 at 1 p.m.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.