THIBODAUX, La. – After getting in some live action work in their exhibition on Wednesday against Lewis University, the Nicholls women's soccer team opens the regular season this weekend in Mobile, Ala., facing the South Alabama Jaguars Friday night at 7 p.m. at “The Cage” and the Spring Hill College Badgers Sunday afternoon at Library Field at 1 p.m.
 
Nicholls fell to the Flyers 4-2 on Wednesday, tying the match in the second half after trailing 2-1. Kristy Tatom scored the first goal of the game, while Spencer Valdespino scored in the second. Melissa Pestalozzi and Daniella Strano assisted on the first, while Tatom assisted on the second.
 
The Colonels are 0-5 lifetime against the Jaguars since their first match on Sept. 17, 2000, as this will be the third time that the two have met in Mobile. The two teams met last year in a round robin hosted by Troy University where Nicholls lost 3-0. Nicholls hasn't scored a goal in three of the five meetings, only scoring in a 4-2 loss in Hammond in 2007 and 3-1 loss in The Cage.
 
South Alabama returns 19 letterwinners and eight starters from last year's 12-5-3 Jaguar squad that finished fifth in the Sun Belt. Under 14^th year head coach Mike Varga, the Jaguars were 8-1-1 at home last year, averaging 1.75 goals per game. A key loss for USA is replacing Brandi Smith who started all 20 games last year, leading the team in goals, points, shots, shots on goal and game winning goals, but returns starting goalkeeper Melissa Drish.
 
The Badgers were the first opponent the Colonels opened with in 2011, cruising to a 5-0 romp over Spring Hill to begin the new season. It was the first-ever meeting between the two sides as SHC is a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference of the NAIA. Spring Hill went on to an 8-10-1 overall record and finished eighth in the SSAC. They return five of their seven starters from last season, but will look to replace a bulk of their scoring offense from a year ago.
 
Live stats will be available for the Spring Hill match here.