Kearney, Neb. - The Nebraska-Kearney women's soccer team starts its fourth season this weekend with road games against two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) schools.

On Friday, Kearney is at SW Minnesota State (3:00 p.m.) and then goes to Division II newcomer Sioux Falls (1:00 p.m.) Sunday afternoon.  To follow the action, go to Southwest's live stats page and the Cougars live stats.

UNK, 5-5 all-time vs. NSIC schools, tallied seven goals over three scrimmages and looks to continue that scoring pace against SMSU and USF.

The Mustangs, picked 11th out of 16 teams in the NSIC preseason poll, went 5-11-1 in 2011. Southwest must replace its top two scorers from last fall, a season in which it scored just 13 goals.

On the flip side, sophomore Sonya Smith stopped 178 shots and had a 1.54 GAA.

Sioux Falls is in its first year as a fully fledged Division II member. Last fall, they went 8-9-1 against a schedule that included D2, NAIA and Canadian schools. They were picked 14th in the league's preseason poll.

Like SMSU and the Lopers, USF must replace its top scorer from 201. Junior keeper Samantha Maybon, an Omaha Burke H.S. grad, returns after having a 2.42 GAA last year.

The Loper lineup features two players -- junior Becka Talcott (22) and sophomore Ashtin Pawloski (10) -- with double digit point total for their careers. Talcott also holds the school mark for game winning goals (four) with senior keeper Marissa Niday (Fremont) looking for her 10th all-time win.

UNK has its home opener vs. Midland U. next Wednesday (Sept. 5th) at 7:30 p.m. That'll mark the Lopers first-ever regular season game against an NAIA school.