Game vs UNLV (Friday, 5 p.m.) -- LIVE STATS | TWITTER
Game vs UTRGV (Sunday, 12 p.m.) -- LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | TWITTER

HACKENSACK, N.J. - The 2016 season will open in Texas for the Fairleigh Dickinson women's soccer team as the Knights will play a pair of this games this weekend in Edinburg, Texas on the campus of UT-Rio Grande Valley.

The Knights will square off with the Rebels of UNLV on Friday at 5 p.m. eastern. Then on Sunday, the Knights will play the UTRGV on Sunday at 2 p.m. eastern.

UNLV and Fairleigh Dickinson have faced each other once before, back in 2008. The Rebels came away with the 1-0 win. This will be the first time that Fairleigh Dickinson will play UTRGV in women's soccer.

Fairleigh Dickinson is coming off a historic 2015 season that saw the Knights collect their first Northeast Conference Tournament Title, First NCAA Tournament berth, first NEC Player of the Year -- Amanda Goulet (Quebec City, Quebec/Shattuck-St. Mary's ), second straight NEC Regular Season Title and saw Rachel Hoekstra (Bowmanville, Ontario/Clarington Central) set career and single-season records for goals and points.

Fairleigh Dickinson was picked to repeat as NEC Champions by the league's head coaches in the preseason poll that was announced on Monday. The Knights are seeking the program's third straight NEC Regular Season Crown.

Jessi Reinhardt (Friedberg, Germany/Burggymansium) returns after being named NEC Freshman of the Year in 2015. The native of Germany had six goals and seven assists a season ago. Classmate Elma Kolenovic (Manhattan, N.Y./NYC Lab) also returns after being named to the All-Rookie Team -- like Reinhardt -- and posting five goals and seven assists. Kayla Adams (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering ), Kristina Neri (San Jose, Calif./Santa Teresa) and Dara Battistoni (Pleasant Valley, N.Y./Arlington) return on the backline that posted seven shutouts and allowed 1.43 goals per game.

UNLV was picked to finish eighth in the 12-member Mountain West Preseason Poll. The Rebels are coming off an 11-10 (6-5 MW) season in 2015 with a loss to New Mexico in the Mountain West Tournament. Jordan Magnin is top returning point-getter for the Rebels with 12 (2G, 8a). Brittney Gideon is the top goal scorer returning after scoring four times in 2015.

UTRGV was tabbed to finish seventh in the eight-member WAC Preseason Poll. It is the program's third year of existence. In 2015 the Vaqueros went 5-12-3 and 3-7 in the WAC. Andreya Barrera led the team with nine points in 2015 and returns for UTRGV.