ROLLA, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miner soccer team opens its 2015 season on Thursday hosting Lindenwood at 4 p.m. at the S&T Soccer Field. S&T looks for its first season opening since 2012 when it beat Wayne State (Neb.) 1-0 at Drury.

The Lady Miners went 0-2 in the preseason dropping a 2-0 decision to Southeast Missouri State but were able to hang with the Redhawks, picked second in the Ohio Valley Conference, giving up both goals in the second half. In the second exhibition contest S&T rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Southwest Baptist to tie the game on goals from Julie Bride (Stilwell, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Sarah Hostler (St. Louis, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) just a minute apart late in the contest. The Bearcats though were able to capitalize on a chance late to win the game 3-2.

The Lady Miners return 15 letterwinners and seven starters off of last year's team that advanced all the way to the GLVC Championship game but do have some key holes to fill. Gone are top goal scorer Sabrina Hostler (St. Louis, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy), goalkeeper Kaitlyn Deister (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation Academy), midfielder Sammy Minea (Leawood, Kan./Blue Valley North ) and center back Kacey Ludwig (McKinney, Texas/McKinney).

Carrie Levy (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge ) while take the spot of Deister in goal this season. Levy appeared in six games with three starts last season allowing six goals in 361 minutes and made 18 saves. Defensively Morgan Sikora (Highland, Ill./Highland) and Taylor Vollmer (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) have played well in the back in the preseason and will look to fill Ludwig's shoes. Also returning on the back line are senior Amanda McDuffee (Plano, Texas/Plano East) and junior Anna Fink (Fulton, Mo./Fulton).

Up front S&T returns Sarah Hostler (St. Louis, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) and Julie Bride (Stilwell, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) along with Rachel O'Neal (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) with Kendra Wood (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) and Kendall Fitzpatrick (Houston, Texas/Memorial ) helping out in the midfield along with Catherine Hawn (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) who is returning from injury last season.

As a freshman Bride scored four goals and added an assist while Hostler scored four goals her freshman season. Wood has scored three goals in career and assisted on four others while Fitzpatrick has tallied three scores and six assists in her career.

Lindenwood is picked to finish fifth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association pre-season coaches poll and is coming off a 7-9-3 season. The Lions return three of their top five scorers from last season including leading scorer Becky Roberts who had seven goals and two assists last year. Miranda Huebner and Kristin Brewer each finished the season with two goals and an assist to finish with five points.

The Lions will have to replace both their goalkeepers from a year ago and that task will fall on freshman Zoe Wetzel and senior Jordan Gnolfo. Gnolfo has also spent time up top as a forward appearing in six games last season.

Thursday's contest marks the second straight year the two sides have played in the regular season with the Lions holding a 12-9 edge in the series. Lindenwood came into Rolla last year and spoiled the Lady Miner home opener scoring the tying goal in the 81^st minute and then scored the game winner 7:47 into the first overtime.

After Thursday's game S&T will head down to Springfield on Saturday to take on the Missouri Southern Lions at 5 p.m. at Drury University. The Lions defeated the Lady Miners 3-2 in last year's season opener scoring three goals in the opening half.

Missouri Southern was picked to finish 11^th in the MIAA pre-season coaches poll.

Live Stats (Both matches)