The Kentucky women?s soccer team opens its season this weekend as they travel to West Lafayette, Ind. to participate in the Boilermaker Challenge Cup.

The Wildcats will play the season lidlifter against the host school and 15th ranked (NSCAA/Adidas) Purdue Boilermakers on Friday evening before closing out the weekend on Sunday against the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers. Both matches mark first time opponents for UK.

?We?re excited not only to get to start the season, but to do so against such quality opponents,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?It doesn?t matter to us whether we?re at home or on the road, we?re just ready to get on the field and get into real game situations.?

The Wildcats own a 7-5-3 record in season opening matches, but haven?t won its first game of the season since a 6-0 victory over Davidson to start the 2003 campaign.

Kentucky posted a 3-1 record last season against Big 10 schools and holds a 16-16-5 all-time mark against Big 10 representatives. The Cats are 9-4-1 against schools representing the Horizon League.

The road trip marks the second consecutive season the Wildcats have opened with a Big 10 opponent on the road in the opening weekend of the season. Last year, UK played its season opener in Cincinnati on Friday before traveling to Evanston, Ill. on Sunday, where they defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 2-1 in overtime.

The Wildcats return 16 letterwinners and nine starters from last year?s SEC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament squad.

Kickoff against Purdue is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Friday while Sunday?s match against Loyola-Chicago is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start. Live stats are available at ukathletics.com.