The Carthage College women's soccer team (0-0-0, 0-0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) opens its 2012 season on Friday, Aug. 31 by traveling to Aurora, Ill., to take on Aurora University in a 2 p.m. game at Vago Field.
 
Carthage head coach Sara Johnson (8-9-2/1 year at Carthage/21-15-4, 2 years overall) returns 14-of-19 letterwinners and seven-of-11 starters from last year's 8-9-2 team.  Second-team All-CCIW forward Rachel Jason (Sr., Deerfield, Ill., 9 goals, 4 assists) leads the returnees, along with midfielder Taylor Capek (Jr., Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek, 7 goals, 3 assists), defender Alyssa Baker (Jr., Lake Villa, Ill./Lakes Community, 3 goals and a team-leading 9 assists), forward Kayla Tripp (Sr., La Crescent, Minn., started 17-of-19 games), midfielder Michelle Sobey (Sr., Bull Valley, Ill./Woodstock, played in 18-of-19 games and made 14 starts), midfielder Kia Miller (Sr., Antioch, Ill./Community, started all 19 games) and forward/midfielder Jessica Davison (So., Kenosha, Wis./Bradford, played in 17-of-19 games and made 12 starts).
 
Troy Edwards (1st year at Aurora/46-93-8, 8 years overall) coaches the Spartans, who went 18-5 in 2011 and won the Northern Athletics Conference title with an 11-1 mark)  Aurora fell to Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2-0, in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship.  The Lady Reds lead the series with the Spartans by a 4-3 margin.