THE OPENING KICK: The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs is set to open its' 26th collegiate season with a non-conference engagement against Northern Michigan University. Action kicks off on Friday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. central time.

SCOUTING REPORT ON NORTHERN MICHIGAN: The Wildcats finished 4-11-2 in 2018 and was selected 8th in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Preseason Poll. The Wildcats' soccer program is about to embark on its 24th overall season in 2019. Head Coach Sonia Basma begins her third season, guiding the program. A key returner on offense is Caroline Halonen. The sophomore forward lead the team in goals (9), assists (6) and points (24) this past season. On the back line,  senior defender Gaelin Hirabayasi helped anchor the Wildcats' defense, helping NMU finish with a 1.48 goals against average, good enough for sixth in the GLIAC. Helped the defence to three shutouts last season. Halonen was named to the All-GLIAC Second team, while Hirabayasi was an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention selection following the 2018 campaign.

THE SERIES: UMD is 8-2-2 against the Wildcats. The Bulldogs won last season 2-0 in Marquette, Mich. Sophomore forward Julia Osborne scored in the 64th minute and defender Erika Hjort headed in another at the 84th minute. The Bulldogs have won the past 4 matches, last losing to the Wildcats in Sept. of 2014.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD stacks up against Northern Michigan in both their respective conference coaches poll, their records last season, and the latest United Soccer Coaches Division II poll.

UMD    8th (NSIC)     7-10-1    NR
NMU    8th (GLIAC)    4-11-2    NR

THE BROADCAST: All NSIC matches at home will be carried live through a video stream with live stats, and is available for free at portal.stretchinternet.com/umd/

OPENING MATCH: UMD is 13-10-2 in its 25 seasonopeners. They are 2-1 in their last three opening matches (1-0 and 3-0 over Wisconsin Parkside, 0-2 Michigan Tech). The Bulldogs are 7-4-1 at home.

RECAPPING THE 2018 SEASON: The Bulldogs finished the 2018 season with a 7-10-1 record. The season concluded with the Bulldogs dropping a nail bitter to the Minot State Beavers 1-0. UMD is looking to improve upon their home record, winning four games in each of the past two seasons at Malosky Stadium, as well as their away record, just 3 wins (the lowest since 2016 when the Bulldogs went 3-3-4 on the road).

OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS: A trio of seniors, defender Maddie Milbrath, forward Logan Nash and forward Nan Glinsek. Glinsek is listed as the captain while Milbrath and Nash are the alternates.

BRINGING THE PACK BACK: UMD returns 21 letterwinners from last season including eight starters and two all-conference players. The Bulldogs have 10 upperclassmen, 6 of those seasoned veterans are seniors suiting up in their final collegiate seasons.

THE NEW DOGS ON THE BLOCK: The Bulldogs added nine freshmen and a redshirt freshman from Northern Michigan to the 2019 roster. Of the nine freshmen, six of them -- forward Tiana DeGrande (Blaine, Minn.), midfielder Sarah Stange (Andover, Minn.), defender Nora Griffin-Wiesner (Golden Valley, Minn.), goalkeeper Jacqi Rae, defender Eliana Maricano and midfielder Daisy Miller -- hail from the land of 10,000 lakes. Forward Erin Walpole, forward Lauren Singstock and goalkeeper Rebecca Osborne hail from Wisconsin, and Lauren Hansen hails from Illinois.

"KICKS FOR CAUSES"- SPECIAL OLMPICS: The UMD soccer team has used their home matchups since its initiation in 2014 as a way to give back to the community by highlighting organizations and charities that student-athletes have chosen to represent. Senior Maddie Milbrath selected the Special Olympics  to be featured for Friday's game.

NSIC COACHES PICK BULLDOGS EIGHTH: UMD was picked to finish eighth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference according to the NSIC coaches' poll. The Bulldogs were selected behind Minnesota State, Augustana, Bemidji State, Condcordia-St. Paul, St. Cloud State, Winona State and U-Mary.

NASH AND IAQUINTO SELECTED PRESEASON PLAYER TO WATCH FOR: Senior forward Logan Nash was selected the Bulldogs' offensive preseason player to watch and senior defender Mikayla Iaquinto was selected the defensive preseason player to watch. Logan Nash accumulated one goal and two assists for four points. Iaquinto has started 47 of 56 games in the past three years, putting up three assists in that span and playing 3527 minutes in the process.

SEEKING OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER: The Bulldogs lost two  of their three leading scorers, a little over 25 percent of the club's production. UMD does return 6 goal scorers this season. Seniors Nan Glinsek and Logan Nash combined for five goals and 14 points in 2018. Five Bulldogs (junior Holly Kaboord, sophomores Hannah Caldwell, Haley Ford, Alli Jenkins and Julia Osborne) all registered their first collegiate points from a year ago.

2018 ACCOLADES: Four players were bestowed all-coference honors. Alumnae Sisley Ng and Erika Hjort were second team honors, while Natalie St. Martin was delt a third team honor and Lindsey Fontes was named an honorable mention. Hjort and Fontes went on to be selected as a first team United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region.

THE CANE FILES: Greg Cane is one of the few coaches who can claim to have literally build his or her squad from the ground up. Cane officially became the first head soccer coach in Bulldog history in 1994. On the sidelines for all 446 matches, the Duluth native has won at a .611 clip, piling up an overall record of 258-160-46. The Bulldogs joined the upstart NSIC in 1996 and have claimed the league crown five times (1997, 1998, 2001-03) as well as five conference tournament titles (1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, and 2009) in 18 seasons of NSIC competition Cane has twice led UMD to unblemished conference marks (1997 and 2003) and both times been named the NSIC Coach of the Year in those seasons. Cane and the Bulldogs set a team record 17 wins in 2000 and would be ranked as high as eighth nationally en route to capturing the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. The team matched that win total in 2013 and made its biggest splash in the postseason, hosting the NCAA II Central Region Tournament where they reached the NCAA II Quarterfinals before succumbing to eventual champion Grand Valley State University. The Bulldogs have been a model of consistency under the guidance of Cane in the upper Midwest. His keen eye for talent and development has harvested 27 different NSCAA /Daktronics All-Central Region players including three All-Americans in Clare Dahmen and Hannah Bengtson in 2009 and Maria Leider the following season In September 2013, Cane was inducted into the St. Scholastica Athletic Hall of Fame for leading the Saints to two National Small Colleges Athletic Association National Championships. Cane later played an integral role in establishing the St. Scholastica women's soccer program in 1990.

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will take on the Michigan Tech Huskies on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2:00 pm at Malosky Stadium.