>>    The Ottawa University Arizona women's soccer team will travel to Olympia, Washington, this weekend where the Spirit will start the 2018 season with two games against teams from the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

>>    OUAZ starts the trip with a neutral site game against Corban College on Saturday at 3 p.m. (AZ) before facing The Evergreen State College on Monday at noon (AZ).

>>    Both games of the road trip are hosted by Evergreen State, and they will be played at the Geoduck pitch.

>>    Live video will not be available for the games this weekend. Evergreen will provide live stats with a link available on the women's soccer schedule at OUAZSpirit.com. Updates will also be posted on Twitter on the @OUAZWSOC account.

SERIES NOTES
>>    This weekend will mark the first meetings with both Corban and Evergreen in OUAZ history as they didn't play either opponent last season.

>>    The games will also be the first matchups against teams from the CCC for the Spirit.

FIRST YEAR IN THE NAIA
>>    While 2018 is the second season of competition for OUAZ; it will be their first as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

>>    Ottawa Arizona officially gained membership to the national governing body this past April, allowing the Spirit full access to NAIA and conference postseason tournaments, along with student-athletes being eligible for all association and conference awards.

>>    As a member of the NAIA, OUAZ has also joined the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) for all sports except football. The GSAC has a long history of success in the NAIA and currently consists of 10 member schools and sponsors 16 sports.

THE 2018 SPIRIT
>>    OUAZ put together a solid inaugural season going 9-9-2 and advancing to the NCCAA National Championships. The 2018 squad returns 22 of the 24 players that made at least one appearance for the Spirit last season.

>>    That group of returning players accounted for 54 goals and 32 assists last season. That is 88.5 percent of the team's total goals and 88.9 percent of total assists. OUAZ also brings back all three keepers that saw time in net in 2017.

>>    Leading the way on offense is 2017 leading scorer Kaitlyn Kelsey. The senior from Surprise led the team with 13 goals and 28 points last year. She tallied a pair of hat tricks and two game-winning goals to lead the team in each category.

>>    Emily Kriplean played a team-high 965 minutes in goal last season and finished with a 1.40 goals-against-average and .824 save percentage. Kriplean went 5-4-1 with four shutouts. Brooke Riddle recorded a 1.52 GAA, and .781 save percentage to go 4-5-1 with two shutouts

FULL SLATE AT SPIRIT FIELD
>>    OUAZ will look to establish a home field advantage as they will play nine games at Spirit Field this season after just one appearance on the home turf last year.

>>    The home slate of games includes four of the team's eight GSAC contests. All four of the home conference games will be played in October during a three-week stretch.

>>    The Spirit will play their first home game of the season next Thursday, August 23, when they host University of the Southwest at 5:30 p.m. OUAZ also has a home contest against Antelope Valley on August 24 at 5:30 p.m.

SPIRIT NOTES
>>    OUAZ had 24 players make an appearance for the team last season with 22 of those scoring at least one goal. That includes all three players that recorded minutes at keeper at some point in the season.

>>    The Spirit ended 2017 with a 7-0-2 record when they held the lead at halftime, and they went 9-0-1 when having the lead at the 75-minute mark.

>>    Kelsey scored a goal in seven games last season with the team going 6-0-1 in those contests. They also went 8-1-1 during the 10 games that she led the team in shot attempts.