'WORCESTER, Mass. – Head Holy Cross softball coach Jen Lapicki has announced the team's schedule for the 2020 season. The 48-game slate features three teams that won their conference and qualified for last year's NCAA tournament, 30 matchups with non-conference opponents hailing from 11 different conferences, and 18 home games to be played at Freshman Field.

The early portion of the Crusaders' schedule is highlighted by a matchup with 2018 NCAA champion and 17-time and reigning ACC champion Florida State on March 3. Holy Cross will take on two other ACC schools throughout the year in Virginia (Feb. 15) and Boston College (April 28).

The team will begin the season by traveling to three tournaments. Play starts on Feb. 14 at the Winthrop University Softball Tournament as Holy Cross matches up with, in addition to Virginia, Towson (Feb. 14), Georgetown (Feb. 14), Winthrop (Feb. 15), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Feb. 16). The Crusaders will then travel to The Springs Games in Madeira Beach, Fla. to face Merrimack (March 6), St. Bonaventure (March 6), South Dakota State (March 7), Florida Gulf Coast (March 7), and Quinnipiac (March 8). While in the Sunshine State, Holy Cross will follow up its meeting with Florida State with a game at Florida A&M (March 4).

The squad will wrap regular season tournament play at the St. John's Invitational with contests against St. John's (March 14), Hofstra (March 14), UConn (March 15), and Sacred Heart (March 15).

The Crusaders' first home games of the year will be played on March 25 in a doubleheader with Albany.

The first Patriot League games of the season will be at Lehigh on March 28 and 29 in the league's traditional three-game series. In terms of Patriot League games, Holy Cross will also travel to Bucknell (April 4 & 5) and Lafayette (April 18 & 19), while hosting 2019 Patriot League Champion Boston University (April 11 & 12), Colgate (April 25 & 26), and Army West Point (May 2 & 3).

The rest of the Crusaders' schedule is rounded out with non-conference away games at Hartford (March 18) for a doubleheader, 2019 Ivy league champion Harvard (April 7), and a doubleheader at Central Connecticut State (April 9), and home game doubleheaders against UMass Lowell (April 1), Rhode Island (April 15), and Quinnipiac (April 30).

The final nine games of the season, and 14 of the final 17, will all be played at home. Nine of those 14 games will be Patriot League contests.

To view the 2020 schedule in full, click here.