THE MATCHUP
SMU Huskies enters the season with 15 rookies on their roster of 22. It will be interesting to see what this young energetic squad will bring to the table this season after losing many of their top senior players. This roster shows very different to the Sea-Hawks who only see 5 players making their MUN soccer debut. In the AUS coaches pre-season poll Saint Mary's University have been predicted to sit at 7^th, for this home-opener weekend it gives promise to a good showing for the Sea-Hawks as they are predicted to rank 5^th overall in the conference. The pre-season poll switches things up from last year where SMU finished 5^th in the league with 6 wins, 5 loses and a tie and the Sea-Hawks trailing right behind with a 6^th place finish. Although MUN trailed behind in the rankings they only put up 4 loses the entire season, playing many competitive games with 4 ties. With the Huskies having such a new team any prediction is exactly that at this point, just a prediction. Regardless, MUN knows what they are stepping on the field with and the familiarity amongst players may play a huge role in future success for this season.

HAWKS EYE
Going into this seasons home-opener we expect to see some dominating 4^th year players from the Sea-Hawks, based off of last season's performance there are a couple big names to keep on your radar this season: Stacey Hanlon an experienced soccer player who is eager to return after a one year hiatus, Holly O'Neill who had an impressive pre-season showing and Nicole Torraville a key attacker for the team.  Also expected to make an impression on the field is the 3^rd year goalkeeper Sydney Walsh who is a reigning 1^st team AUS All-Star and Newfoundland native Bethany Hynes starting her rookie season.

COACHES THOUGHTS
Coach Mike Power is eager to head into this season with an experienced team. Working hard in the off-season coach Power expects to field a more dynamic team in their attacking with smart mental play. Power expects the ladies to maintain their impressive defensive record from last season. To make this happen, a couple of the team goals for the 2019-2020 season are to have close-matchups against some of the big teams by limiting on-field mistakes so nothing is given up "cheaply" to the opponents.