GETTYSBURG, Pa. – What better way to charge into the fall campaign than by welcoming 15 teams to the battlefield for a pair of opening-season tournaments? Volleyball and women's soccer will begin the year on their own respective friendly confines with the rest of Gettysburg's fall programs headed away from home.

The Bullets volleyball team will be the first squad to open play this season with its annual Battlefield Classic on Sept. 3-4. A dozen teams will join Gettysburg inside Bream Gym and Hauser Field House for the two-day event. Gettysburg, which went 4-0 at last year's extravaganza, has a quartet of contests on the docket, beginning with Mount Saint Mary (N.Y.) College Friday at 3 p.m.

Not to be outdone, the women's soccer program hosts a tournament for the sixth consecutive season. The two-day event takes place Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 4-5) and features four unfamiliar opponents including Gettysburg, Ramapo College, Stevenson University, and Susquehanna University. Ramapo and Stevenson open play on Saturday at 4 followed by the Bullets and Susquehanna at 7. Sunday's matches are set for the same times, with Gettysburg closing the weekend against Ramapo.

The rest of Gettysburg's fall programs will take up arms away from the battlefield. The field hockey team travels to Eastern Mennonite University on Friday for a 4 p.m. contest. The Bullets have taken down the Royals in each of the teams' last six meetings, but each of the last two has been decided by just one goal.

Gettysburg's long-standing rivalry with Dickinson College and Franklin & Marshall College takes center stage as the cross country teams participate in the Little Three Meet in Lancaster, Pa., Saturday morning. In 44 years of competition, the Bullet men have claimed fourteen team titles with the last coming in 1995 in Lancaster. The Orange and Blue women also last won in 1995, marking their fourth crown in that race's 29 years. This season's race begins at 10 a.m.

Football looks to get its season off and running and end a two-game losing streak to Lebanon Valley College on Saturday, Sept. 4, at 1 p.m. in Annville, Pa. The Dutchmen held off a furious rally by the Bullets last fall to prevail 47-42, but Gettysburg sill leads the all-time series by a wide margin at 30-6-1.

Men's soccer opens its year at the University of Mary Washington this weekend. The Bullets will have their work cut out for them in the opener against defending Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) champion Lynchburg College on Saturday 1 p.m. The host Eagles will be waiting in the wings for Sunday's affair, scheduled for 3:30 p.m.