The Tusculum College women's soccer team will take the pitch for 19 regular season matches in 2009 and face six participants from last year's NCAA Division II Tournament, including national quarterfinalist Columbus State University, head coach Mike Joy announced Monday.

The Pioneers will open the campaign at home with two matches against Davis & Elkins College and Texas A&M-Commerce on Aug. 28 and 30 as part of the Tusculum Soccer Classic.

Tusculum will then travel to Columbus, Ga. to take part in the Lady Cougar Invitational. Coach Joy's squad will face 2007 national champion University of Tampa on Sept. 4 before taking the pitch against Columbus State on Sept. 6.

The Pioneers will play six of their next seven matches on the road, including the first two contests of their South Atlantic Conference schedule at Lincoln Memorial University on Sept. 23 and Brevard College on Sept. 26.

After the prolonged road stretch, Tusculum will return home for four consecutive matches at Pioneer Field, including a SAC tilt against arch-rival Carson-Newman College on Sept. 30. The Pioneers then close out the 2009 regular season with three of five road matches, closing out their conference schedule with an away contest against Lenoir-Rhyne University on Oct. 31.

The complete schedule is listed on today's Scoreboard page (B-2).