BOSTON – The Northeastern women's soccer program and head coach Ashley Phillips announced the Huskies' 2018 schedule on Monday. The competitive slate is highlighted by six contests vs. teams that finished in the RPI top-100 in 2017, and includes marquee non-conference matches against opponents from the ACC, American, Big West and West Coast Conference.

"We are excited about the competitiveness of our 2018 schedule," Phillips explained. "We will be taking on top-level programs right from the start, and we are looking forward to being challenged early in the year to prepare us for CAA play."

Northeastern will play nine of its 19 matches at Parsons Field, beginning with a pair of regional foes, UConn (Aug. 17) and Boston College (Aug. 19), to kick off the season. The Huskies also welcome Boston University (Aug. 30), Syracuse (Sept. 2) and New Hampshire (Sept. 9) to Parsons in the non-conference schedule.

On Aug. 24-26, the Huskies will travel to the west coast for the first time since 2013 for matchups against Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount. Northeastern has never faced LBSU in program history, but did play LMU during its 2013 California trip – a 1-0 win for the Lions in Los Angeles.

In addition to two challenging matches out west, the Red & Black will also hit the road for regional contests at Dartmouth (Sept. 7), Albany (Sept. 13) and Harvard (Sept. 16).

Conference play begins Sept. 20 as Northeastern travels to Delaware for the first of five CAA road games. The Huskies also visit Towson (Sept. 27), Hofstra (Oct. 4), College of Charleston (Oct. 14) and William & Mary (Oct. 21) in CAA play, and host UNCW (Sept. 23), James Madison (Sept. 30), Elon (Oct. 7) and Drexel (Oct. 18).

The 2018 CAA tournament is set for Oct. 28 - Nov. 4. The quarterfinal round will be played on campus sites, while the semifinals and final will be hosted by the No. 1 seed. Northeastern has appeared in the CAA championship game in four of the last five seasons, including conference titles in 2013, 2014 and 2016.