MACOMB, Ill. - Fighting Leatherneck women's soccer will open its regular season Friday (Aug. 21) at Milwaukee. The non-league match is slated to kickoff at 7 p.m. CT at Engelmann Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and will be broadcast online on ESPN 3.

A LOOK AT THE PANTHERS: Milwaukee will also open its regular season Friday after finishing the preseason season 1-1... The Panthers finished 6-10-2 overall in 2014 and 2-4-2 in Horizon League play... Milwaukee is led by head coach Troy Fabiano, who is in his first year at the helm of the program... Panthers are tasked with replacing its top-three scorers from 2014, but return two members of the Horizon League All-Freshman team... Sydney Senn leads the team offensively, as she scored three goals and added two assists in 16 games a year ago.

SERIES HISTORY: Friday will mark the third time since 1997 that the two teams have faced off, and the first time since 2011 when the Leathernecks fell to the Panthers 4-0... Western defeated Milwaukee 1-0 in 2010 for its lone victory over the Panthers.

EXHIBITION RECAP: The Leathernecks finished its preseason 0-2 with losses against Drake and Illinois State... After dropping its first match 1-0, Western fell to the Redbirds 4-0. 

NEXT UP: Following Friday's match, the Leathernecks will open its longest home swing of the season with matches against Eastern Illinois (Aug. 28), Kansas City (Aug. 30) and Western Michigan (Sept. 6).

PRESEASON POLL: Western Illinois received 20 votes in The Summit League preseason poll and were selected to finish eighth in 2015...Denver was selected to finish first with 62 points, followed by SDSU, NDSU, IUPUI, and Omaha. Oral Roberts and South Dakota were picked to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by WIU and Fort Wayne. 

NEWCOMERS: Dr. Ted Flogaites welcomes 11 freshmen and one transfer for the 2015 season… Combined with five redshirt freshmen, 17 Leathernecks could make their official debut this fall… The current roster has six seniors, two juniors, eight sophomores, and 16 freshmen.

RETURNERS: The Fighting Leathernecks return 21 players from 2014 including Skyler Jessop and Tyra Markey who combined for three goals and two assists last season… Victoria Kappel will return in goal… Kappel sits sixth all-time in program history with the season record for saves (100), third in career saves (223), third in wins (17), sixth in goals against average (1.70) and third in minutes in goal (3,915:47).AT THE HELM: In July of 2012, Dr. Ted Flogaites became the fifth Western Illinois women's head soccer coach… He joined the program following a five year stint at Hastings College with a 76-22-9 record, a .745 winning percentage… In four years with the Leathernecks, he has compiled 26 wins… He trails only Tony Guinn (48) for the most wins in program history… Flogaites graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1999 and was a member of the Gaucho men's soccer team.
 
2014 RECAP: The Leathernecks will look to rebound from a 5-12-1 2014 season and return to The Summit League Championships for the first time in 2 years… Western scored 17 goals last season… WIU graduated 12 members of the 2014 squad, including Sarah Hall who scored eight goals in 2014.
 
CAPTAINS: Four Leathernecks from the senior class, Victoria Kappel, Skyler Jessop, Gina Scaffidi, and Daniela Salinas will lead the team as captains this season.