1 p.m. Friday – SOU (3-2) vs. No. 9 Rocky Mountain (4-1) – Raider Stadium
11 a.m. Sunday – SOU (3-2) vs. College of Idaho (1-0-1) – Raider Stadium
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ASHLAND – As setting the tone goes, the Cascade Conference could do worse than pitting last year's co-champions against each other on the first day of the regular season.

That'll be the scenario at 1 p.m. Friday at Raider Stadium, where Southern Oregon (3-2) is set to host No. 9-ranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (4-1) in a matchup that has a young but contentious history. In 2017, the Raiders came into Rocky for the CCC opener sporting a 0-5 record, but they pulled off a stunning 3-0 upset and never looked back on their way to a co-title and a conference tournament championship. The Bears didn't look back either – they matched the Raiders at 11-1-1 in the CCC but missed out on an automatic bid to the national tournament due to the head-to-head outcome, and were snubbed for an at-large bid despite a one-loss record.

After taking on Rocky, SOU will stay home for Sunday's 11 a.m. tilt against The College of Idaho (1-0-1), which was picked 10th in the conference preseason poll.

HAT-TRICK HAPPY: Following an impressive 1-0 win last Saturday at UC Merced – the preseason No. 23 team in the NAIA – the Raiders pushed around Pacific Union (Calif.) on Sunday to the tune of a 6-0 victory. Against the Pioneers, senior forward Carlos Magana recorded his third career hat trick with three scores in a 27-minute span during the second half. Those efforts came on the heels of Brendan Allen's hat trick in a 6-1 defeat of William Jessup (Calif.) on Sept. 1. Magana (18 goals), Allen (11) and Pinney (11) are the leading goal-scorers in the four-year history of the program.

BRIEFLY:

• Since losing to Rocky in the final regular-season game of 2016, SOU has won seven straight at Raider Stadium and given up just two goals in those contests. The team is 15-5-2 overall at Raider Stadium.
• SOU enters conference action on a three-game win streak that includes its first two shutouts of the season. Last year in CCC play, the Raiders totaled 10 shutouts in 13 games.
• Wyatt Zabinski, the 2017 CCC Defensive Player of the Year, has already amassed 24 saves with a .828 save percentage. Last year his overall mark was .753 with 58 saves, and he topped the circuit in conference outings with a .871 clip.
• Ten Raiders have already recorded an assist – all 15 of their goals have been assisted – led by Renee Resendez's three. Ahmon Afenegus has two, and his 15 over the last four years top the Raider career list.

ABOUT ROCKY MOUNTAIN:

• The Bears opened their season with a 2-1 overtime loss against No. 18 Westmont (Calif.), but they followed up by ambushing No. 14 Marymount (Calif.), then the No. 4 team, in an 8-0 win. They've outscored their opponents by a combined 20-3 margin.
• Since joining the CCC in 2015, they've gone 33-4-2 in conference play with two co-titles and one outright. Before last fall, they'd qualified for the national tournament five years in a row.
• Nolan Sherwood, who redshirted last season after recording 11 goals and six assists in 2016, is back with a team-high four goals. The Bears returned three other first-team All-CCC selections: midfielder Marco Kummerle (1 goal, 3 assists) and defenders Tulio Melo (1 goals) and Gregor Watson (1 goal).
• Rocky leads the series against SOU, 2-1. The three matchups have yielded 17 yellows and one red card.

ABOUT COLLEGE OF IDAHO:

• The Yotes played just two non-conference games, tying Jamestown (N.D.), 1-1, and knocking off NCAA Division II opponent South Dakota Mines, 2-1.
• Midfielder Bekir Cinac led the Yotes with three goals and seven assists last year as they went 6-7 in the CCC. During the season-opening weekend, he scored their lone goal against Jamestown and the game-winner against South Dakota Mines.
• SOU is 3-1 in the series against the Yotes, taking its only loss during the inaugural 2015 season. The Raiders won last year's regular-season matchup in Caldwell, 2-1 on Esteban Castaneda's winner in the 61st, and eliminated the Yotes in overtime of the CCC quarterfinals, 1-0 on Zac Hansen's header in the 91st.