HELENA, Mont. – The 2015-16 Carroll College athletic season officially begins Thursday when the Carroll men take on The Master's College (Calif.) in a neutral site game in Salt Lake City and the Carroll women's soccer team takes on Mount Royal University in an international road game in Calgary, Alberta.

The Saints women follow up the season opener with a game Saturday against the University of Calgary and the men play former Frontier Conference foe Westminster College.

Both women's games are exhibitions for the host schools but will count for the Saints.

Carroll hosted Mount Royal in 2014 and came away with a 3-1 victory at Nelson Stadium. The two game trip is also a homecoming for junior Brittany Girolami and her sister Freshman Kirsten Girolami, the two hail from Calgary where they attended Bishop Carroll High School.

Carroll brings back 10 starters and has 11 seniors back for head coach Dave Thorvilson's ninth year at the helm.  Anchoring the Carroll defense is returning Frontier Player of the Year Jamie Carter. The Saints gave up just 10 goals in 2014 and only eight came with Carter in goal.

The Saints men have a different story, nine of the 22 players on the squad traveling to Utah are freshmen. In just the second year as a program, the Saints are trying to build on the 6-11-1 record in 2014.

It will be the first meeting for Carroll and the Masters but the Saints fell twice to Westminster in 2014.

Isaac Bostrom is the leading returning goal scorer but he is joined by a bevy of fresh faces on the team that has just a handful of upperclassmen.

The women kick off at 7:30 p.m. and the men begin at 4 p.m.