Five New York University varsity athletic teams return to action this weekend to kick off the department's 2018-19 season. 

NYU women's volleyball will be the first to compete when the squad hosts Eastern Nazarene College (1pm) and York College of Pennsylvania (5pm) on Friday at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility. The match against Eastern Nazarene marks the debut of Head Coach Andrew Brown, who was hired last winter after a successful stint at Union College. Four seniors - Katie Goyette, Daryl Mitchell, Annie Singh, and Nazzerine Waldon - return to the court for their final season as Violets and will be joined by three juniors, four sophomores and 10 freshmen.

Also competing at home this weekend is the women's soccer squad, which hosts Vassar College on Sunday at noon, following their season opener on Friday (7pm) at St. Joseph's College in Long Island. Head Coach Michele Canning returns for her eighth season and brings back a veteran group looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament following a pair of runner-up finishes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship. Alex Benedict, the 2017 squad's leading goal scorer (seven) will lead the charge up front, while 2017 First Team All-University Athletic Association (UAA) honoree Sophia Danielsen will be back at goalkeeper for her junior season. Danielsen and fellow goalkeepers Michaela Brickley and Meghan Marhan combined for 14 shutouts last season will benefit from a strong defensive group that returns Maddie Howard and Nalani Ogawa, who each started all 22 games in 2017.

The men's soccer team will also play a pair of games, this weekend, both against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) foes at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. On Friday they are slated to take on Rutgers University - Camden at 5pm, before playing the host Profs on Saturday evening at 7:30pm. Kim Waynt is in her fourth season leading the Violets and will count on senior captains Ricardo Mitrano and Niko Patrk to provide leadership both on- and off-the-field. Three of the team's top four offensive producers return as 2017 Second Team All-UAA selection Maxi Rodriguez (16 points), Mitrano (10 points) and Owen Smith (10 points) will lead the charge up front. The backline will be led by Patrk, fellow senior Daly Tucknott and Jake Velvel, while Grant Engel, who started all 20 games as goalkeeper last season returns, as well. 

Head Coach Erison Hurtault's men's and women's cross country squads will open up early Friday evening at the Ramapo College Season Opener at the Deer Park Path in Flemington, NJ. The women's race is slated to begin at 5pm, while the men will start at 5:30pm.

The men's squad is looking to return to the NCAA Division III Championships for the third-straight season. Last season, the Violets qualified after a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Atlantic Regional and finished in 28th place at the NCAA Championships. Two of NYU's five scorers from the national event, Brandon Shirazi and Ben Karam, are back this season and project to lead the Violets.

Hurtault, who is in his third season as the NYU head coach, will look to Sabrina Herrmann to lead the way on the women's side. Herrmann qualified for last season's NCAA Division III Championships as an individual with a 10th place finish at the NCAA Atlantic Regional. Fellow seniors Anastasia Filimontseva, Sidney Williams and Karen Yao also return for the squad which features a pair of juniors, three sophomores and six freshmen.

Be sure to return to GoNYUAthletics.com and check out NYU Athletics' social media (@NYUAthletics on Instagram/Twitter, Facebook.com/NYUAthletics) to follow the Violets throughout opening weekend!