HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team will get a steady dose of home cooking when the 2017 schedule commences on August 31. The Lady Railsplitters, who are beginning their first season under the direction of head coach Sean Fraser, are set to play 18 regular-season matches, 10 of which will be hosted at the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will host four of the first six matches of the Fraser era in Harrogate, but open the 2017 campaign with a trip to Due West, South Carolina to face the Erskine Flying Fleet on August 31. That trip is followed by a three-game nonconference homestand against Tennessee Wesleyan (9/3), USC Aiken (9/6) and Young Harris (9/10).
 
The bookends of that three-game stretch should provide early-season litmus tests for Lincoln Memorial, as Tennessee Wesleyan went 13-6-2 last season and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, while Young Harris went 8-3-1 in the ultra-competitive Peach Belt Conference.
 
The Lady Railsplitters begin the South Atlantic Conference slate on September 13 with a showdown at Tusculum, who represents the first peg of a brutal slew of league foes, as Lincoln Memorial's first five conference matches will be played against the top-five teams from the 2016 standings. After Tusculum, the Lady Railsplitters host Queens (9/16) and Lenoir-Rhyne (9/23) before traveling to Wingate (9/30) and Carson-Newman (10/4).
 
Carson-Newman, Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum all earned a share of the 2016 SAC regular-season title, while Wingate and Queens finished just a half game back in the standings, as those five teams went a combined 40-12-3 in conference action. Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
 
In the midst of that difficult stretch, Lincoln Memorial will travel to Lees-McRae (9/20) and host Albany State (9/26), a first-year program located in Albany, Georgia, in nonconference action. Albany State is one of two first-year programs on the Lady Railsplitters' schedule along with Glenville State, who heads to Harrogate on October 10.
 
The SAC schedule eases up just a bit down the stretch as Lincoln Memorial hosts Newberry (10/7) and Mars Hill (10/18) around a trip to Coker (10/14). Newberry was the best of that bunch last season with a 4-6-1 league record.
 
The Lady Railsplitters close out the regular season with a SAC match at Anderson (10/21), the final nonconference tune-up at Hampton (10/24) and the regular-season home finale against Catawba (10/28). Anderson and Catawba finished sixth and seventh respectively in the league last season, while Hampton has combined for just two wins over the past two seasons.
 
The top eight teams in the final league standings earn bids to the 2017 SAC Championship, which begins on October 31 with quarterfinal-round action. The top four teams will host their respective opening-round match, while the semifinals and finals will be played at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, South Carolina on November 3rd and 5th.