BOSTON – The Northeastern women's soccer program and head coach Ashley Phillips announced a challenging 2017 schedule on Thursday. The defending CAA champions will face teams from the ACC, Big 12, Ivy League, Patriot League and America East, in addition to a challenging nine-game CAA slate.

"We are excited about the strength of our 2017 schedule," Phillips explained. "We have a very competitive list of non-conference opponents that we feel will test and prepare us for our always-challenging CAA competition."

Highlights of the Huskies' non-conference slate include back-to-back road games against Big 12 powerhouses TCU and Texas on Sept. 8-10, as well as rivalry games against local foes Holy Cross (Aug. 20), Boston University (Aug. 24), Harvard (Aug. 29) and Boston College (Sept. 3). 

Seven of NU's 10 non-conference games will be on the road; the three home dates include the 2017 season opener vs. Stony Brook on Aug. 18, a date with Harvard on Aug. 29 and a matchup against Dartmouth on Sept. 15.

CAA play begins on Sept. 21 with a 2016 championship game rematch against Drexel in Philadelphia. Northeastern will also travel to James Madison (Oct. 1), Elon (Oct. 8) and UNCW (Oct. 22), and will host the College of Charleston (Sept. 24), Delaware (Sept. 28), Hofstra (Oct. 12), William & Mary (Oct. 15) and Towson (Oct. 19).

The 2017 CAA championship is set for Oct. 29-Nov. 5 at campus sites. The Huskies hoisted the conference championship trophy for the third time in the last four seasons in 2016 with a 3-0 victory over Drexel in the title match at Parsons Field.